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ONE  HUNDRED  PER  CENT  AMERICAN 


ONE  HUNDRED  PER  CENT 
AMERICAN 


ADDRESSES  DELIVERED  BY  FAMOUS 
PATRIOTS  OF  ALL  SHADES  OF  POLITICAL 
BELIEF  AT  THE  SATURDAY  LUNCHEON 
MEETINGS  OF  THE  REPUBLICAN  CLUB, 
NEW   YORK,   DURING   THE    YEAR    1918 

EDITED  BY 

ARNON  L.  SQUIERS 


WITH  A  FOREWORD  BY 

THEODORE  ROOSEVELT 

) 


NEW  YORK 
GEORGE  H. DORAN  COMPANY 


Copyright,  1918, 
By  George  H.  Doran  Company 


Printed  in  the  United  States  of  America 


©CI.A506911 


DEDICATED  TO 

THE  LOYALTY  AND  PATRIOTISM  OF 

THE  AMERICAN  PEOPLE 


FOREWORD 

A  glance  at  the  names  of  the  speakers  whose  addresses  are  con- 
tained in  this  volume,  and  at  the  topics  of  the  addresses  them- 
selves, is  enough  to  show  that  the  Republican  Club  during  the 
first  year  and  a  half  since  we  entered  the  war,  has  subordinated 
all  party  or  other  considerations  to  the  high  ideal  of  service  from 
all  of  us  to  the  country  which  belongs  to  all  of  us.  These  speeches 
are  pleas  for  speeding  up  the  war  and  waging  it  with  the  utmost 
efficiency.  They  are  demands  that  we  accept  no  peace  without 
victory.  They  stand  for  steadfast  insistence  upon  the  doctrine 
of  duty,  which  includes  the  need  of  sacrifice ;  and  they  scornfully 
repudiate  the  shameful  doctrine  of  the  pacifists  that  Americans 
ought  to  be  too  proud  to  fight  for  their  rights  and  their  honor 
and  the  interests  of  mankind. 

Above  all  they  insist  upon  the  absolute  need  of  ioo  per  cent 
Americanism  in  this  country,  of  thoroughgoing,  undivided  loy- 
alty to  our  flag,  and  of  straight-out  nationalism,  undivided  and 
untainted.  Our  doctrine  is  that  this  is  a  great  nation,  and  not 
a  polyglot  boarding  house.  We  repudiate  all  who  profess  in 
even  the  smallest  degree  a  loyalty  to  any  other  nation.  ■  We 
assert  that  no  man  is  an  American  who  bears  in  his  heart  the 
slightest  allegiance  to  any  other  flag  except  ours ;  and  we  mean 
not  only  the  flags  of  foreign  powers,  but  the  red  flag  of  anarchy 
and  the  black  flag  of  that  international  socialism,  that  German- 
ized socialism,  which  has  proved  to  be  the  tool  and  ally  of  Ger- 
man autocracy. 

The  Club  is  proud  that  its  membership  includes  Americans 
of  all  creeds  and  of  all  race  origins.  But  they  are  all  Americans 
and  nothing  but  Americans !  We  care  nothing  where  a  man  was 
born;  we  care  nothing  as  to  the  land  from  which  his  parents 
came;  we  stand  for  absolute  freedom  of  religious  belief,  but 
we  insist  upon  one  flag,  one  language,  one  undivided  loyalty  to 
this  nation  and  to  the  ideals  of  this  nation.  We  are  a  new  nation, 
differing  from  all  other  nations,  friendly  towards  them  all  in  so 
far  as  they  will  let  us  be  friendly,  desirous  of  helping  them,  but 

vii 


viii  FOREWORD 

resolutely  bent  upon  maintaining  our  separate  ^«?P?jJ* 
self-reliant  national  existence.  We  accept  no  f^^^f^ 
icanism.    We  insist  that  all  our  people  must  be  Americans  ana 

only  Americans.  Theodore  Roosevelt. 

August  15th  1918. 


AN  APPRECIATION 

The  days  preceding  the  declaration  of  war  against  Germany  by 
the  United  States  on  the  6th  day  of  April,  19 17,  were  trying 
days.  Throughout  this  great  war  now  being  waged  for  democ- 
racy, the  Republican  Club  has  subordinated  every  partisan  feel- 
ing to  wholehearted  and  undivided  support  of  the  Government. 
The  spirit  of  the  addresses  contained  in  this  volume  voiced  the 
spirit  of  the  Club,  which  was  to  wage  the  war  with  the  utmost 
force  to  a  speedy  termination.  These  addresses  are  most 
valuable  contributions  of  constructive  thought  on  the  purposes 
of  the  war. 

The  responsibility  of  the  United  States  began  on  the  morn- 
ing of  the  4th  day  of  August,  19 14,  when  the  first  German 
soldier  put  his  foot  on  Belgian  soil,  and  that  responsibility  has 
never  ceased  for  one  moment  since.  It  was  emphasized  again 
when  the  "Lusitania"  was  sunk,  and  when  the  innumerable  ships, 
and  merchantmen  on  which  were  American  citizens,  were  sunk 
contrary  to  every  principle  of  International  Law.  May  the 
United  States  never  shirk  (and,  God  willing,  she  never  shall)  one 
iota  of  her  responsibility,  until  reparation  has  been  made  to  the 
fullest  extent  of  human  effort  in  restoring  Belgium,  Serbia, 
Northern  France  and  every  other  destroyed  and  looted  country 
in  Europe.  In  waging  this  war  the  United  States  is  fighting  for 
liberty,  for  freedom  and  for  democracy,  and  for  its  own  citi- 
zens, because  this  war  is  a  war  as  truly  defensive  of  the  insti- 
tutions of  the  United  States  as  it  is  a  defensive  war  of  the  in- 
stitutions of  Great  Britain,  France,  Belgium  and  all  the  other 
Allies. 

Never  was  the  individual  duty  of  the  citizen  in  the  present 
epochal  task  of  restoring  peace  to  the  peoples  of  the  world  more 
clearly  enunciated  than  in  these  discussions,  which  not  only 
made  the  walls  of  the  Club  House  ring  with  patriotic  fervor,  but 
carried  their  message  all  over  the  world.  The  Club  stands  stead- 
fastly for  a  dictated  peace  and  sets  its  face  determinedly  against 
any  peace  by  negotiation.     This  attitude  was  most  ably  stated 


x  AN  APPRECIATION 

by  Senator  Henry  Cabot  Lodge  in  a  recent  address  in  the  United 
States  Senate,  as  follows : 

"Belgium  must  be  restored. 

"Alsace  and  Lorraine  must  be  returned  to  France — uncondi- 
tionally returned — not  merely  because  sentiment  and  eternal  jus- 
tice demand  it,  but  because  the  iron  and  coal  of  Lorraine  must 
be  taken  forever  from  Germany. 

"Italia  Irredenta — all  those  areas  where  the  Italian  race  is 
predominant,  including  Trieste — must  go  back  to  Italy. 

"Serbia  and  Rumania  must  be  reestablished  in  their  inde- 
pendence. 

"Greece  must  be  made  safe. 

"Most  important  of  all,  if  we  are  to  make  the  world  safe  in  the 
way  we  mean  it  to  be  safe,  the  great  Slav  population  now  under 
the  Government  of  Austria — the  Jugo-Slavs  and  the  Czecho- 
slovaks, who  have  been  used  to  aid  the  Germans,  whom  they 
loathe — must  be  established  as  independent  states. 

"The  Polish  people  must  have  an  independent  Poland. 

"And  we  must  have  these  independent  states  created  so  that 
they  will  stand  across  the  pathway  of  Germany  to  the  East. 
Nothing  is  more  vital  than  this  for  a  just,  a  righteous  and  an 
enduring  peace. 

"The  Russian  provinces  taken  from  Russia  by  the  villainous 
peace  of  Brest-Litovsk  must  be  restored  to  Russia.  .  .  . 

"Constantinople  must  be  finally  taken  away  from  Turkey 
and  placed  in  the  hands  of  the  allied  nations  as  a  free  port,  so 
as  to  bar  Germany's  way  to  the  East  and  hold  the  Dardanelles 
open  for  the  benefit  of  mankind. 

"Palestine  must  never  return  to  Turkish  rule  and  the  perse- 
cuted Christians  of  Asia  Minor — the  Syrians  and  the  Armenians 
— must  be  made  safe." 

This  was  the  spirit  and  purpose  of  the  series  of  addresses 
which  follow,  and  for  which  the  Club  Membership  unalterably 
stands.  The  Chairman  deems  it  a  great  privilege  to  have  pre- 
sided as  toastmaster  at  all  the  luncheons  at  which  these  addresses 
were  given,  and  regards  it  a  pleasure  to  express  the  keen  appre- 
ciation which  the  Club  feels  to  each  one  of  the  speakers  who 
were  its  guests. 

August  31st,  1918.  Arnon  L-  Squiers. 


OFFICERS  OF  THE  REPUBLICAN   CLUB 

Mr.  Robert  W.  Bonynge 

President 

Mr.  Ralph  A.  Day 

First  Vice  President 

Mr.  Wm.  M.  K.  Olcott 
Second  Vice  President 

Mr.  Herbert  L.  Satterlee 
Third  Vice  President 

Mr.  Wm.  S.  Denison 

Corresponding  Secretary 

Mr.  Oscar  W.  Ehrhorn 
Recording  Secretary 

Mr,  Taylor  More 
Treasurer 


x\ 


INTRODUCTORY  NOTE 

The  Republican  Club  through  its  Saturday  Discussions  Com- 
mittee expresses  its  appreciation  of  the  gracious  cooperation  of 
the  notable  speakers  whose  addresses  made  the  Saturday  Discus- 
sions not  only  memorable,  but  historical  in  the  annals  of  the 
World  of  Thought. 

Inspired  by  this  epochal  war,  these  addresses  were  made  at  a 
critical  time  in  the  history  of  the  nation.  Public  opinion  was 
in  the  process  of  being  moulded.  Convictions  were  less  set- 
tled than  they  were  six  months  afterwards. 

It  was  a  time  when  patriotic  hearts  could  sound  an  inspiring 
rallying  note  for  the  cause  of  world-wide  democracy.  In 
many  instances  the  messages  of  the  speakers  carried  a  deep  spir- 
itual power,  enabling  their  audience  to  carry  away  soul-staying 
consecration  to  the  cause  of  Right. 

Again  and  again  the  true  significance  of  the  war  struggle 
was  depicted  in  all  its  reality.  So  much  so  that  the  auditors 
could  not  help  but  realize  how  much  our  patriots,  the  boys  in 
khaki  in  the  trenches,  beset  with  deadly  dangers,  were  their 
own  brothers. 

Men  left  the  Club  stauncher  God-fearing  and  God-battling 
Americans,  after  hearing  the  addresses.  This  being  a  truth  that 
cannot  successfully  be  challenged,  is  there  much  else  that  the 
members  of  the  Club  might  say  that  would  better  convey  their 
lively  appreciation  and  gratitude? 

It  is  with  the  knowledge  of  the  importance  of  these  addresses 
as  a  permanent  memorial  to  the  history  of  this  great  war  for 
human  freedom,  that  the  Club  feels  it  a  great  honor  to  itself 
and  a  benefit  to  all  Americans  to  put  these  addresses  into  this 
permanent  form. 

The  appended  schedule  gives  the  speakers  and  subjects. 

C.  T.  White. 


zu 


CONTENTS 


First  Discussion:  INSIDE  OBSERVATIONS  ON  THE  WAR  PAGE 

I   HON.  JAMES  W.  GERARD 17 

II   HON.  HUGH  GIBSON 26 

III    REV.  NEHEMIAH  BOYNTON,  D.D 35 


Second  Discussion:  OUR  COUNTRY  IN  THE  WAR 

I   HON.  WILLIAM  S.  KENYON 45 

II    REV.  S.  PARKES  CADMAN,  D.D 59 

III  PROF.  PHILIP  MARSHALL  BROWN 65 

IV  HON.  LOUIS  DE  SADELEER 74 

Third  Discussion:  THE  AIMS  OF  DEMOCRACY  IN  THE  PRESENT 
CRISIS 

I   HON.  WALTER  E.  EDGE 8l 

II   DR.  SHAILER  MATHEWS 87 

III  HON.  GEORGE  E.  CHAMBERLAIN 98 

IV  HON.  JULIUS  KAHN 1 10 

V   PRINCE  LAZAROVICH 114 

Fourth  Discussion:  VARIED  ASPECTS  OF  THE  WAR 

I   HON.  WM.  H.  SKAGGS 123 

II   CAPTAIN  A.  P.  SIMONDS,  U.S. A I40 

III  HON.  W.  M.  CALDER 150 

IV  REV.  GEORGE  R.  VAN  DE  WATER,  D.D. 153 

Fifth  Discussion:  WHAT  HAVE  WE  AGAINST  THE  CENTRAL 
EUROPE  POLICY  OF  GERMANY? 

I   PROF.  ALBERT  BUSHNELL  HART 1 63 

II   DR.  ROBERT  M.  MCELROY 177 

III  DR.  SAVIC 182 

IV  REV^  J.  PERCIVAL  HUGET,  D.D 186 

xiii 


xiv  CONTENTS 

Sixth  Discussion:  THE  MORAL  ISSUES  OF  THE  WAR  PAGE 

I    HON.  FREDERICK  C.  HICKS 197 

II    REV.  ISAAC  J.  LANSING,  D.D 221 

III    DR.  TALCOTT  WILLIAMS 238 

Seventh  Discussion:    UNITED  STATES  AND  ITS  RESPONSI- 
BILITIES 

I    MR.  JAMES  S.  LEHMAIER 253 

II    MADEMOISELLE  SUZANNE  SILVERCRUYS 255 

III  HON.  MYRON  T.  HERRICK 268 

IV  HON.   MILENKO  R.  VESNITCH 272 

V  REV.  WILLIAM  F.  PIERCE,  D.D 275 

Eighth  Discussion:  CANADA  IN  THE  WAR 

I    ROBERT  W.  BONYNGE 28l 

II    SIR  EDMUND  WALKER,  C.V.O.,  LL.D.,  D.C.L 283 

III  SIR  ROBERT  FALCONER 298 

IV  SIR  WILLIAM  MULOCK,  LL.D 304 

V  REV.  ALLAN  MaCROSSIE,  D.D 307 

VI    EARL  OF  ABERDEEN 309 

Ninth  Discussion:  THE  ELEMENTS  OF  THE  PEACE  PROBLEM 

I   HON.  JAMES  M.  BECK 313 

II    DR.  D.  J.  MCCARTHY 321 

III    REV.  J.  HOWARD  DUFFIELD,  D.D 330 

Tenth  Discussion:  THE  WOMEN  OF  1918 

I    SERGEANT  RUTH  FARNUM 339 

II    MRS.  A.  BURNETT-SMITH 350 

III  MRS.  AMELIA  BINGHAM 356 

IV  REV.  CORNELIUS  WOELFKIN,  D.D 359 

Eleventh  Discussion:  FIGHTING  THE  DRAGON 

I   MR.  SAMUEL  HARDEN  CHURCH 369 

II    RABBI  STEPHEN  S.  WISE 377 

III  DR.  ROSALIE  SLAUGHTER  MORTON 384 

IV  PROF.  GEORGE  TRUMBULL  LADD 389 


FIRST   DISCUSSION 

JANUARY  FIFTH,  I918 
INSIDE   OBSERVATIONS   ON   THE  WAR 


INSIDE  OBSERVATIONS  ON  THE  WAR 


ONE:     BY  HONORABLE  JAMES  W.  GERARD 

Former  Ambassador  to  Germany 

I  feel  like  Daniel  in  the  lion's  den,  but  you  are  not  such  very 
fierce  lions,  because  Democrats  and  Republicans  are  now  frater- 
nally carrying  on  the  war,  and  in  the  most  fraternal  manner,  the 
Democrats  are  filling  all  the  offices  and  Republicans  have  nothing 
to  do  but  back  them  up ! 

The  other  day  when  I  was  speaking  in  Los  Angeles,  on  a  trip 
through  the  West,  when  I  came  out  and  walked  through  the 
street,  I  overheard  two  women  and  a  man  who  were  walking  be- 
hind me  and  who  had  been  at  the  meeting,  discussing  me,  and 
this  is  what  I  heard :  "He  is  no  orator ;  he  doesn't  make  any  noise 
at  all.  He  talks  just  the  way  we  do."  I  told  that  to  a  friend  of 
mine  from  New  York,  who  often  runs  for  office  here.  He  hap- 
pened to  be  out  examining  his  California  properties,  and  he  said, 
"You  must  not  mind  that.  I  had  a  similar  experience  in  New 
York  once.  I  overheard  two  women  talking  behind  me,  and  one 
of  them  said,  'What  do  you  think  of  him  as  a  speaker?'  The 
other  said,  'Well,  Mame,  I  don't  know,  but  his  trousers  bag  at 
the  knees  just  like  William  Jennings  Bryan's.' " 

I  see  you  have  for  the  subject  of  discussion,  "Inside  Ob- 
servations on  the  War."  Well,  I  can  assure  you  that  it  is  very 
much  more  agreeable  to  be  on  the  outside  of  the  German 
Empire  looking  in,  than  it  was  on  the  inside  looking  out ;  because 
you  gentlemen  can't  conceive  of  the  extraordinary  hate  for  Amer- 
ica that  now  animates  that  whole  people.  The  people  there  are 
so  disciplined  from  the  time  they  are  four  years  old,  that  the  gov- 
ernment is  able  to  turn  this  stream  of  hate,  like  a  garden  hose, 
anywhere  it  pleases.  In  the  first  days  of  the  war  they  all  talked 
about  Russia.  They  said  it  was  the  menace  of  Czarism  that  they 
were  fighting,  and  then  when  England  came  into  the  war  and  saw 
she  was  in  earnest  and  would  be  a  great  obstacle  to  their  success, 
then  they  turned  all  that  hate  on  England.  They  had  this  phrase 
of  Gott  straff e  England.  They  also  had  pieces  of  jewelry  manu- 
factured, bearing  that  phrase.     It  was  impossible  for  Ameri- 

17 


18    ONE  HUNDRED  PER  CENT  AMERICAN 

cans,  without  being  insulted,  to  speak  their  own  language  in  the 
theaters  or  on  the  streets.  Just  before  I  left  Berlin,  one  of  our 
stenographers,  a  girl,  attending  a  theater  in  Berlin,  had  her  face 
slapped  by  half  the  audience  because  she  was  speaking  English. 

That  same  hate  extends  over  the  whole  of  the  people,  and  they 
intended,  if  they  had  succeeded  in  the.war,  that  is,  if  they  had  ob- 
tained the  coast  of  France  and  then  conquered  England  and  split 
up  Russia,  there  is  no  doubt  whatever  that  they  intended  to  come 
over  to  this  country.  We  had  there,  representing  American  pa- 
pers, pro-German  correspondents.  One  or  two  of  them  were  not, 
but  the  majority  of  them  were.  They  were  either  pro-German 
by  nature  or  they  were  made  pro-German,  and  those  people,  of 
their  own  accord,  did  not  send  out  the  news  to  the  whole  world 
as  to  what  was  happening  in  Germany.  They  were  bound  by  an 
agreement  which  they  signed  not  to  leave  the  country,  not  to  send 
out  anything  which  was  not  submitted  to  the  Foreign  Office  and 
to  the  military  censorship ;  so  that  you  here  were  kept  in  ignor- 
ance of  that  wave  of  bitter  hatred  that  was  sweeping  over  the 
whole  German  Empire,  and  preparing  for  their  declaration  of 
what  they  called  "ruthless  submarine  war/'  And,  at  the  same 
time,  these  people  and  all  the  American  colony  in  Germany  were 
telling  them  that  the  American  people  were  not  behind  President 
Wilson;  that  they  were  in  favor  of  Germany;  and  that  sort  of 
information  was  a  great  factor  in  deciding  the  Germans  and  mak- 
ing them  believe  that  a  great  portion  of  the  people  of  America 
was  really  in  their  favor  and  would  declare  for  them. 

Now,  you  know  to-day  the  great  question  that  every  one  is 
thinking  of  is,  whether  there  can  be  any  peace,  whether  these 
offers  that  the  German  Government  is  making  will  lead  to  any- 
thing. They  are  faced  to-day  by  this  problem,  that  they  can't 
make  a  peace — that  is,  the  German  people  can't  make  a  peace — 
which  is  not  a  German  victory,  because  for  years  the 
people  in  that  country  have  surrendered  all  political  power 
to  the  autocracy.  A  vote  amounts  in  Prussia  to  nothing  at  all. 
They  vote  under  the  system  by  which  the  vote  of  one  rich  man 
counts,  sometimes,  as  much  as  the  votes  of  five  or  six  thousand. 
The  districts  of  the  Reichstag  have  not  been  changed  since  1871, 
and  anyway,  the  Reichstag  means  nothing,  because  over  it  is  the 
Second  Chamber,  the  equivalent,  in  some  respects,  of  our  United 
States  Senate,  where  the  twenty-five  reigning  princes  of  Germany 
sit;  and  the  members  of  the  Reichstag  sit  there  and  vote  just  as 
those  twenty-five  reigning  princes  tell  them. 

For  years  all  political  power  has  been  in  the  hands  of  this 
autocracy,  and  while  there  is  no  danger  of  any  revolution  now — 
that  can't  be  made  in  a  country  where  every  one  between  fifteen 


INSIDE  OBSERVATIONS  ON  THE  WAR  19 

and  forty-five  is  in  the  army,  where  none  but  the  old  men  and 
young  boys  are  left  at  home — but  their  danger  is  that  after  they 
have  led  those  people  into  a  war  which  is  not  successful,  then 
these  men  will  come  home  from  the  trenches,  come  home  with 
their  health  destroyed,  their  bodies  maimed,  their  business  ruined, 
their  families  dying  of  semi-starvation,  and  then  if  there  is  no 
successful  German  peace,  all  those  men  will  turn  around  and  say 
to  the  Kaiser,  and  say  to  his  ministers  and  the  twenty-five  reigning 
kings  and  grand  dukes  and  princes  of  Germany,  ''We  surrendered 
everything  to  you  for  years  and  you  promised  us  in  return  for 
that  not  only  an  efficient  government,  not  only  commercial  suc- 
cess, but  you  promised  us  the  conquest  of  the  whole  world,  and 
you  have  failed.  You  have  ruined  the  country,  you  have  failed 
in  your  attempt,  and  you  are  a  devil  of  a  government  and  we  are 
going  to  throw  you  out."  And  that  is  what  the  autocracy  is 
facing  when  they  are  endeavoring  to  arrange  a  peace. 

They  have  got  their  eyes,  of  course,  on  the  west  and  on  the 
east.  On  the  west  they  want  to  seize  Belgium.  Von  Tirpitz  has 
said  very  frankly,  "We  have  got  to  have  Belgium  for  our  future 
war  which  we  will  some  day  make  on  England  and  America." 
And  then,  they  have  their  great  industrial  concerns.  There  are 
six  great  iron  and  steel  companies  in  the  west,  the  Rhine  Valley 
and  Westphalia,  and  they  want  to  take  that  part  of  France  which 
contains  the  most  valuable  iron  ore  deposits,  and  then  if  they  have 
that,  they  will  have  a  monopoly  of  the  iron  and  steel  trade  of  the 
Continent  of  Europe.  So  these  rich  manufacturers  want  an  ex- 
tension towards  the  west. 

Now  then,  what  we  call  the  Junkers,  the  Prussian  squires,  who 
live  in  the  country  on  their  country  estates,  who  hold  all  the  offices 
in  the  German  Army  and  Navy  and  Civil  Government,  who  are 
the  noble  class,  the  ruling  class,  they  say,  "No,  if  you  extend 
toward  the  west  that  increases  the  industrial  population,  that  in- 
creases the  number  of  socialists  and  working  men,  and  there 
must  be  a  corresponding  increase  toward  the  east  where  an  agri- 
cultural population  can  be  found,  where  we  can  colonize  and 
occupy  these  lands." 

And  so  to-day  the  problem  that  they  set  themselves  in  their 
negotiations  with  Russia  is  to  get  from  Russia  the  three  Baltic 
Provinces,  Courland,  Livonia  and  Esthonia,  and  that  part  of 
Russia  extending  from  Germany  along  the  Baltic  nearly  to  Petro- 
grad.  At  one  time  these  three  provinces  were  owned  by  the 
Teutonic  Knights,  a  German  organization,  the  same  German  or- 
ganization that  originally  owned  Prussia;  and  the  land-holding 
families  of  Prussia  and  the  land-holding  families  of  the  Baltic 
Provinces  are  the  descendants  of  these  Teutonic  Knights  who 


20    ONE  HUNDRED  PER  CENT  AMERICAN 

remained  on  the  soil,  possessing  it,  through  their  laws  of  inheri- 
tance, unto  this  day. 

These  provinces  became  at  one  time  firmly  independent;  at 
one  time  part  of  Poland,  at  another  time  absorbed  in  Russia,  and 
not  until  1876  were  they  made  entirely  a  part  of  the  Russian  Civil 
Government. 

Fifteen  per  cent,  of  the  population  is  German ;  the  remaining 
population  are  Letts  and  Esthonians,  and  these  fifteen  per  cent, 
of  the  population  comprise  all  the  people  with  money  in  that 
country.  The  descendants  of  the  Teutonic  Knights  are  the  mer- 
chants of  the  cities  of  Riga  and  Libau.  All  the  teachers,  all  the 
ministers  of  the  Gospel,  are  German.  The  only  thing  that  is  Rus- 
sian are  the  Russian  officials.  The  Germans  themselves  for  years 
have  had  their  eye  on  these  provinces.  They  want  to  take  these 
provinces  and  keep  this  native  population  down  just  as  they  have 
always  been  kept  down  by  these  German  landlords.  That  is  their 
problem.  They  don't  want  to  leave  these  provinces.  They  want 
to  say,  "We  will  have  an  election/'  and  then  they  believe  that  by 
the  influence  of  the  landowners  of  the  merchant  class  and  of  the 
bribes  that  they  themselves  will  use — and  they  don't  hesitate  to 
use  bribes,  as  you  know — that  they  will  be  able,  coupled  with  the 
fact  that  they  are  in  occupation  of  the  country,  to  make  a  false 
election  return  which  will  show  that  the  people  of  those  countries 
desire  to  be  annexed  to  Germany. 

They  want  to  make  an  independent  Poland,  rather  than  take 
Poland  into  their  own  country,  because  the  Poles  are  Catholics, 
and  the  German  ruling  class  is  opposed  to  the  Roman  Catholic 
Church.  There  are  three  great  political  parties  in  Germany  to- 
day, the  Conservatives,  the  Socialists  and  the  Catholics.  It  is  the 
Catholic  Party  which  holds  the  balance  of  power  between  the 
Conservatives  and  the  Socialists.  They  don't  want  to  take  Poland 
in  and  make  it  part  of  Germany  because  it  will  add  to  the  Catholic 
deputies  in  the  Reichstag  and  make  their  problem  so  hard  that 
they  will  be  unable  to  withstand  the  Catholics  who  will  perhaps 
hold  the  supreme  power,  if  the  Reichstag  ever  gets  to  the  place 
where  it  has  the  power  which  the  British  Parliament  or  the 
American  Congress  holds. 

Of  course,  all  these  princes  back  each  other  up.  Do  you  know 
that  of  all  the  Kings  of  Europe,  the  King  of  Italy  and  the  King  of 
Montenegro  are  the  only  two  royalties  who  are  not  related  to  the 
German  royal  house  by  marriage  or  by  blood  ?  And  it  has  been 
their  policy  always  to  back  up  these  royalties  ever  since  the  Holy 
Alliance  of  1815. 

If  the  Russians  succeed  in  bringing  together  an  army — even 
the  semblance  of  an  army,  and  holding  those  provinces,  that  wilJ 


INSIDE  OBSERVATIONS  ON  THE  WAR  21 

be  a  great  advantage  to  the  Allies,  because  the  Germans,  by  their 
superior  agricultural  methods,  can  go  into  those  provinces  and 
produce  great  quantities  of  foodstuffs.  Taken  together,  these 
Baltic  Provinces  are  the  same  area  as  Wurtemburg  and  Bavaria 
taken  together,  which  have  a  population  of  two  millions,  while 
the  latter  provinces  have  eight  millions. 

That  is  the  problem  that  is  going  on  under  your  eyes  at  this 
very  moment,  the  attempt  of  the  German  Empire  to  get  from 
the  Revolutionary  Government  these  three  Baltic  Provinces. 

You  ask  me  now  three  questions,  and  I  will  answer  them  and 
then  I  will  sit  down  and  give  way  to  the  next  speaker.  Tell  me 
what  you  want  me  to  talk  about  and  ask  me  some  questions. 

Then  came  the  following  questions  and  Judge  Gerard's 
answers : 

Tell  us  some  of  your  personal  experiences  in  Berlin? 

Your  Chairman  asks  me  about  the  lamp-post  story.  That  shows 
this  peculiar  state  of  mind  into  which  the  Germans  had  worked 
themselves  about  America.  You  remember  they  have  had  a 
propaganda  here,  going  on  for  twenty-five  years  under  our  noses  ? 
I  was  speaking  not  long  ago  in  a  Republican  meeting  at  the  Ham- 
ilton Club  at  Chicago.  I  got  there  in  the  afternoon  and  decided 
to  examine  what  school  books  were  used  in  Chicago.  I  found 
that  they  had  the  Prussian  royal  arms  stamped  on  the  outside, 
and  they  were  full  of  anecdotes  telling  what  good,  kind,  pleasant 
people  the  present  Kaiser  and  all  his  ancestors  were!  We  have 
the  same  thing  here  in  our  own  public  schools.  When  I  came 
back  here  I  sent  out  and  got  a  lot  of  these  school  books.  The 
worst  ones  had  been  published  since  the  commencement  of  the 
war,  showing  how  their  propaganda  works  all  the  time.  In  one  of 
these  they  had  the  German  national  hymn,  "Die  Wacht  am  Rhine." 
It  was  printed  twice,  once  in  the  text  and  then  at  the  end,  with 
music.  Now  just  imagine  what  would  have  happened  to  a  Ger- 
man school  teacher  if  he  had  been  caught  teaching  his  pupils  to 
sing  "Britannia"  or  "The  Star  Spangled  Banner" !  It  would 
have  been  "Good  Night"  in  night,  because  one  of  the  ways  which 
they,  the  Prussian  officials,  hold  their  peoples  together  is  by  the 
secret  court.  They  try  their  officials  (and  a  school  teacher,  or  a 
postman  is  an  official  of  the  government,  and  they  are  tried  for 
any  offence),  not  in  a  regular  court,  but  in  a  secret  court  where 
they  can  be  adequately  punished  if  they  have  not  taught  the 
Divine  Right  of  the  Emperor.  They  thought  because  they  had 
"propagandaed"  us  for  years,  and  because  of  the  Messages  of 
this  country,  that  this  country  would  do  nothing  at  all ;  and  once, 
when  I  was  talking  with  Zimmermann  after  the  sinking  of  the 


22    ONE  HUNDRED  PER  CENT  AMERICAN 

Lusitania,  he  said,  pounding  on  the  table  with  his  fists,  "Your 
government  can't  do  anything.  You  don't  dare  do  anything 
against  the  German  Government,  because  we  have  in  America 
to-day  five  hundred  thousand  German  reservists  who  will  rise  in 
arms  against  your  government  if  you  dare  to  make  a  move  against 
us."  I  told  him  then  what  you  have  heard  since,  that  we  had 
five  hundred  and  one  thousand  lamp-posts  in  America  and  that 
was  where  those  reservists  would  find  themselves  hanging." 

What  did  he  say  to  that  ? 

/  said,  "If  you  can  show  me  one  single  American  citizen  of 
German  descent,  who  has  come  over  with  a  passport  to  fight  in 
your  army,  I  will  believe  what  you  have  said,  because,  for  the 
whole  winter,  they  have  been  able  to  come  over  with  passports  to 
Scandinavia,  and  they  could  have  got  into  Germany  and  fought 
for  you ;  if  you  can  find  one  single  man,  other  than  one  crazy  Yale 
student  who  went  over  to  fight  in  the  German  Army,  I  will  be- 
lieve you."  That  is  why  I  can't  understand  why  these  few  West- 
ern Senators  can  go  about  the  country  as  they  do  and  you  see  it  is 
something  that  the  Germans  can't  understand.  They  say,  "If  these 
people  are  allowed  to  live  there  must  be  a  sentiment  in  our  favor 
in  America."  When  they  take  up  the  paper  and  read  what  these 
people  are  allowed  to  say  in  this  country,  knowing  what  would 
happen  to  them,  why,  the  German  says,  "There  must  be  a  senti- 
ment in  favor  of  Germany,  in  spite  of  the  declaration  of  war, 
because  these  people  are  allowed  to  go  about  and  talk  in  this  way 
in  America  and  still  live."  That  is  the  way  the  German  looks 
on  it,  and  that  is  why  these  people  who  say  they  are  against  our 
going  to  war  with  Germany  have  done  more  than  any  other  class 
to  get  us  into  the  war,  because  they  gave  the  German  this  idea 
that  there  were  these  five  hundred  thousand  reservists  and  there 
was  this  great  body  of  Americans  sympathizing  with  the  Kaiser 
and  with  the  German  cause. 

What  do  they  do  with  American  citizens  in  Germany  now  ? 

I  saw  one  American  who  left  there  on  the  16th  of  May,  and 
at  that  time  he  was  compelled  to  report  to  the  police  twice  daily 
and  was  not  allowed  to  go  out  of  his  house  after  eight  o'clock  at 
night. 

What  is  the  real  food  situation  in  Germany  and  what  are  the 
prices  of  food? 

Personally,  I  could  live  cheaper  in  Germany  during  the  war 
than  I  could  in  New  York  before  the  war.  But  the  food  situation, 
as  a  matter  of  fact,  I  don't  think  is  a  material  factor,  other  than 
the  fact  that  it  annoys  the  population  and  makes  them  nervous 
and  underfed  and  subject  to  disease,  but  they  can  manage  to  last 
through  with  their  food,  although  at  the  time  I  left  they  were 


INSIDE  OBSERVATIONS  ON  THE  WAR  23 

getting  practically  nothing  to  eat.  The  allowance  then  (every- 
thing was  on  the  card  system),  nearly  a  year  ago,  was  only  a 
small  slice  of  bread  which  lasted  them  for  the  day,  a  square  of 
meat  which  included  the  bone  and  gristle,  which  lasted  them  for 
a  week,  three  to  five  pounds  of  potatoes  in  a  week,  one  egg  every 
two  weeks.  And  all  those  magnificent  frontal  effects  Germans 
carried  so  proudly  have  disappeared  ! 

What  about  the  treatment  of  prisoners? 

They  have  been  treated  with  unexampled  cruelty.  There 
never  has  been  in  the  history  of  the  world  such  a  history  of  con- 
tinued, official,  deliberate  cruelty.  There  have  been  instances 
where  one  commander  was  responsible  for  some  cases  of  cruelty, 
but  in  this  war  it  was  the  official  treatment  of  prisoners  of  war. 
Some  of  them  have  now  been  prisoners  in  Germany  for  three 
and  a  half  years,  and  during  that  time  they  have  been  given  by 
the  German  Government  nothing  except  their  little  ration  of 
bread  that  they  could  not  eat  with  a  spoon,  a  cup  of  something 
that  they  call  coffee  which  is  made  from  an  extract  of  acorns, 
with  no  nourishment  or  stimulus  in  it  whatever,  and  in  the  middle 
of  the  day  a  thick  soup  made  of  vegetables,  mostly  potatoes  and 
carrots.  It  is  an  absolute  starvation  ration.  The  English  and 
French  prisoners  were  taken  care  of  by  the  packages  which  were 
sent  from  home,  but  the  Russians !  I  have  been  in  camp  there 
and  have  seen  the  English  and  French  prisoners  with  their  pack- 
ages, and  the  Russians  standing  around  hoping  they  might  get  a 
crumb  from  some  of  these  packages.  They  carry  on  all  the  work 
of  Germany  with  those  two  million  prisoners  of  war.  They  are 
leased  out  like  slaves.  A  man  comes  to  the  commander  and  says, 
"I  have  a  farm  or  a  factory  and  I  want  250  prisoners,"  and  they 
come  to  him  with  a  guard  and  he  carries  them  off.  They  get  a 
little  better  food  than  they  do  in  the  camp,  but  the  only  improve- 
ment is  that  the  midday  soup  is  strengthened.  A  little  stale  fish 
is  put  in  it,  and  occasionally  a  very  little  meat.  Their  own  sol- 
diers are.fed  according  to  the  distance  from  the  firing  line.  The 
ones  nearest  to  the  firing  line  are  well  fed. 

Judge  Gerard,  will  they  be  able  to  repress  or  restrain  the  So- 
cialist element  in  Germany  for  any  long  continued  period,  or  is 
that  to  be  relied  upon  as  an  element  in  the  war  ? 

They  will  be  able  to  repress  them  until  after  the  war  because 
the  police  are  very  strong  and  the  officers  in  the  army  are  all 
taken  from  the  noble  class,  and  therefore  you  can't  have  the  situa- 
tion that  you  had  in  Russia  of  whole  regiments  going  over  to  the 
Revolution. 

What  is  the  present  morale  of  the  German  Army? 

A  few  months  ago  it  was  very  bad,  but  lately,  since  their  sue- 


24    ONE  HUNDRED  PER  CENT  AMERICAN 

cess  in  Italy  and  since  the  Revolution  in  Russia,  they  feel  that 
they  have  a  very  good  chance  of  winning. 

Does  the  Kaiser  really  believe  he  is  divine? 

I  think  he  does. 

Can  any  reliable  news  from  America  get  across  the  line  now  ? 

I  don't  think  so. 

A  question  which  has  puzzled  a  great  many  is,  where  Germany 
gets  the  material  for  ordnance,  munitions,  etc.  I  mean  copper, 
rubber,  etc.  Other  nations  have  great  difficulty  in  getting  these 
materials.     How  in  the  world  do  they  get  it  ? 

Well,  they  have  all  the  iron  and  copper  and  steel  necessary  in 
their  own  country,  both  in  Westphalia  and  Silesia.  Besides,  they 
get  copper  from  one  place  in  Saxony,  25,000,000  pounds  a  year. 
They  have  another  copper  mine  they  took  from  the  Serbians, 
and  two  in  Southern  Poland.  Besides  that,  they  took  all  the  cop- 
per kitchen  utensils  in  Germany,  the  roofs  off  a  great  many  build- 
ings, the  doors  off  those  big  porcelain  ovens  that  you  see  in  every 
German  house — all  those  were  melted  down.  They  make  their 
smokeless  powder  from  wood  pulp  instead  of  cotton.  They  have 
a  great  zinc  mine  in  Belgium  which  they  are  working,  and  they 
have  other  zinc  mines  in  the  Baltic  Provinces,  and  what  else  do 
they  need?  Rubber?  The  Deutschland  brought  them  over  a 
great  quantity  of  nickel,  platinum  and  rubber,  and  then  remember 
that  in  the  conquered  countries  they  seized  everything  in  the  way 
of  materials  and  shipped  them  into  Germany,  which  gave  them  a 
great  store,  and  rubber  they  don't  require  so  much  of.  That  is 
only  for  their  automobile  tires,  and  by  taking  all  the  automobiles 
early  in  the  war  they  have  tires  enough. 

How  about  oil? 

They  get  oil  from  Galicia  and  then  from  Rumania. 

What  do  they  dress  in  ?    Their  clothes  must  be  worn  out. 

Your  clothes  will  last  a  long  time,  and  you  always  find  stores 
of  clothes  laid  away.  Besides,  they  have  men  who  go  over  the 
battle  field  and  every  corpse  is  stripped  and  the  clothes  and  shoes 
are  renovated  and  used  over  again.  They  seized  great  quantities 
of  clothing  in  Belgium  and  in  France.  The  great  spinning  towns 
of  Northern  France  are  Lille  and  Amiens  and  Rouen.  Well,  then, 
they  covet  them,  also  the  spinning  towns  in  Poland,  because  for 
two  years  you  couldn't  buy  anything  in  Germany  in  cotton  or  wool 
without  a  permit  from  a  police  magistrate.  If  you  wanted  a  pair 
of  socks  of  cotton  or  wool,  you  had  to  make  an  application  to  a 
magistrate  and  he  sends  a  policeman  to  look  over  your  wardrobe, 
to  see  if  you  really  need  them.  This  does  not  refer  to  silk  socks, 
but  to  cotton  and  woolen  ones. 

What  is  the  situation  in  railway  equipment  at  the  present  time  ? 


INSIDE  OBSERVATIONS  ON  THE  WAR         25 

They  have  managed  to  keep  it  up  fairly  well.  Their  great 
need  there  was  for  axle  grease.  But  at  one  time  it  apparently 
was  on  the  point  of  breaking  down,  because  their  forces  were  so 
far  from  Germany,  towards  Rumania  and  up  through  these  Baltic 
Provinces  of  Russia. 

About  how  many  men  has  Germany  in  her  army? 

They  have  never  told  how  many  men  they  have.  The  only 
way  I  could  make  a  calculation  was  from  a  large  shooting  pre- 
serve near  Berlin,  and  on  that  there  was  a  village  of  six  hundred 
inhabitants,  men,  women  and  children,  no  had  been  called  into 
the  army.  You  see  that  is  over  one-sixth.  Now  you  take  one- 
sixth  of  the  72,000,000  population  of  Germany,  and  you  have  over 
12,000,000  who  were  called  to  the  colors. 

In  your  opinion,  does  the  present  condition  in  Russia  tend  to 
unite  the  German  mind,  or  is  the  opposite  true  ? 

Anything  which  is  a  success  for  the  Germans  or  a  defeat  for 
their  adversaries  of  course  encourages  the  whole  population,  and 
they  are  encouraged  because  of  the  breakdown  in  Russia. 

Will  it  strengthen  the  Socialist  Party  in  Germany? 

I  think  so,  especially  when  the  prisoners  come  home.  You 
see,  in  Russia  there  are  probably  eleven  or  twelve  hundred  thou- 
sand prisoners  of  war  of  Austria  and  Germany.  Now,  of  course, 
when  they  have  seen  the  Russians  cavorting  and  capering  around 
and  dividing  up  the  land  and  doing  what  they  please,  they  are 
going  to  tell  about  it  when  they  go  back  to  Germany ;  but,  on  the 
other  hand,  they  will  be  seized  by  the  military  and  put  in  the  army 
again. 

Judge  Gerard,  I  heard  you  at  the  Lawyer's  Club  tell  about 
hearing  the  Kaiser  say  he  wouldn't  stand  any  nonsense  from  the 
United  States.  I  would  like  to  have  you  repeat  that  interview 
and  also  state  whether  you  reported  that  interview  to  our  govern- 
ment. 

That  interview  occurred  on  the  25th  of  October,  191 5.  I 
had  been  for  a  long  time  trying  to  force  an  audience  with  the 
Kaiser,  because  he  said  that  he  would  not  receive  the  ambassador 
of  a  country  which  was  selling  arms  and  ammunition  and  sup- 
plies to  the  enemies  of  Germany,  and  this,  although  by  custom 
an  ambassador  is  supposed  to  have  the  right  to  demand  an  audi- 
ence with  the  Kaiser  at  any  time.  He  refused  for  nearly  a  year 
— for  over  a  year — to  see  me  on  that  ground,  and  then,  when  I 
finally  forced  an  audience  I  went  into  his  room  where  he  was 
at  Potsdam,  and  he  was  alone  in  this  large  room,  standing  by  the 
window.  I  came  into  the  room  and  stood  in  front  of  him  and 
made  a  low  bow,  and  he  immediately  walked  right  up  to  me  and 
shook  his  fist  in  my  face  and  commenced  the  interview  and  im- 


26    ONE  HUNDRED  PER  CENT  AMERICAN 

mediately  said,  "I  shall  stand  no  nonsense  from  America  after 
this  war.  America  had  better  look  out  after  this  war."  And  he 
kept  repeating  that  at  intervals  during  this  interview  which  lasted 
for  more  than  an  hour,  and  of  course  I  did  report  that,  as  was 
my  duty,  back  to  this  country.  That  was  in  October,  191 5.  And 
that  is  another  reason,  of  course, — well,  I  am  glad  to  see  we  are 
being  prepared ! 

Is  the  Kaiser  interested  in  the  Krupps? 

I  think  he  is  a  stockholder  in  Krupps,  and  also  in  the  Ham- 
burg-American Line. 


TWO:     BY  HONORABLE  HUGH  GIBSON 

Chief  of   the  Division   of   Foreign  Intelligence   of   the   State 

Department 

I  quite  realize  the  audacity  of  trying  to  tell  you  anything  about 
Germany  in  the  presence  of  Mr.  Gerard,  for  he  speaks  with  an 
authority  and  knowledge  and  experience  that  no  other  American 
can  claim,  but  I  can,  perhaps,  compromise  with  my  diffidence  in 
this  matter  by  telling  of  a  phase  of  the  question  which  he  has  not 
touched  upon,  and  that  is,  what  went  on  in  Belgium.  I  shall  not 
try  to  give  you  any  carefully  prepared,  theoretical  treatise  on  the 
German  form  of  government,  but  if  you  will  bear  with  me  for  a 
little  while,  while  I  move  about  from  one  subject  to  another,  with- 
out any  particular  sequence,  I  shall  try  to  give  you  an  idea  of 
what  it  feels  like  to  live  under  the  dominion  of  Germany  in  con- 
quered territory  where  the  German  is  undisputed  master. 

To  begin  with,  I  was  in  Belgium  when  the  Germans  came, 
and  may  add  that  a  kind-hearted  State  Department  had  sent  me 
there  for  a  rest  cure  which  they  thought  I  needed.  As  late  as  the 
17th  of  August  I  motored  toward  Liege,  and  got  about  twenty 
miles  outside,  but  saw  no  evidence  of  a  cavalry  skirmish  in  which 
the  Germans  had  been  engaged,  and  came  back  quite  optimistic. 
But  I  had  not  reckoned  on  the  speed  of  the  German  Army. 
About  forty-eight  hours  later  we  got  the  first  news  of  the  im- 
pending invasion  and  Brussels  was  overrun  with  refugees.  There 
was  no  time  for  escape  or  for  preparation.  The  next  afternoon 
the  German  Army  entered  Brussels  in  triumph,  garlands  of  flow- 
ers about  the  muzzles  of  their  cannon. 

The  German  methods  to  be  pursued  in  Belgium  had  been  care- 
fully worked  out  years  in  advance,  and  were  put  in  effect  with- 
out loss  of  time.  That  first  afternoon  a  temporary  government 
was  established  at  Hotel  de  Ville,  all  telephone  and  telegraph 


INSIDE  OBSERVATIONS  ON  THE  WAR  27 

wires  were  cut,  the  Post  Office  taken  over  by  the  military.  The 
newspaper  offices  were  closed,  presses  seized  and  a  ban  put  on  all 
printing.  Most  of  the  conveniences  which  we  had  come  to  take 
for  granted  were  stopped  without  warning,  and  the  population  of 
several  million  of  people  had  to  adapt  themselves  over  night  to  an 
entirely  new  form  of  life  under  a  truculent  soldiery  that  did  more 
to  provoke  trouble  than  to  prevent  it. 

That  first  afternoon  a  proclamation  was  posted  throughout  the 
city.  It  called  upon  the  population  to  pursue  its  normal  occupa- 
tions, which  mandate  was  followed  by  a  long  list  of  offenses 
which  would  be  punished  with  severity.  The  next  afternoon,  as 
if  that  was  not  enough,  they  put  up  some  big  red  posters  all  over 
the  country,  announcing  that  villages  where  hostile  acts  were 
committed  would  be  burned  to  the  ground ;  that  punishment  for 
the  destruction  of  roads  and  bridges  would  be  visited  on  the  near- 
est village,  regardless  of  its  guilt ;  that  hostages  would  be  taken 
in  every  street  of  the  town  and  put  to  death,  in  case  of  disorders, 
and  that  the  innocent  would  be  mercilessly  punished  with  the 
guilty.  That  sounded  pretty  bad,  but  it  was  not  nearly  so  bad 
as  what  really  happened.  Almost  immediately  we  began  to  hear 
the  stories  of  thousands  of  refugees  from  places  where  a  care- 
fully prepared  system  of  atrocities  had  been  put  into  effect.  At 
first  we  found  it  utterly  impossible  to  place  any  credence  in  these 
stories  and  put  them  down  unhesitatingly  to  the  hysteria  of  badly 
frightened  people.  We  were  unable  to  believe  that  any  civilized 
power  could  countenance  such  deeds  as  were  forced  upon  us. 

Gradually,  however,  the  horror  of  the  whole  system  dawned 
upon  us.  At  first  our  imagination  staggered  under  the  shock ; 
but  in  a  surprisingly  short  time  we  reached  the  state  of  callous- 
ness— perhaps  I  should  say,  numbness — where  we  could  accept 
these  things  as  a  part  of  the  day's  work,  and  before  we  got  through 
we  could  listen  with  a  degree  of  calmness  that  would  make  your 
blood  run  cold. 

I  will  say  this,  that  that  first  army  that  went  raging  through 
Belgium  and  Northern  France  committed,  with  the  approval  and 
countenance  of  its  officers,  every  imaginable  barbarity — arson, 
pillage,  torture,  mutilation,  murder  and  rape.  The  stories  of 
what  they  did  are  not  the  product  of  inflamed  imagination.  They 
are  only  too  true.  What  has  been  published  is  bad  enough,  but 
the  whole  truth  on  that  subject  will  never  be  known  until  the 
Germans  have  been  driven  out  of  Belgium  and  Northern  France 
and  the  people  who  remain  there  are  free  to  speak  and  can  show 
the  proofs  they  have,  documents,  photographs  and  human  ex- 
hibits, that  will  horrify  the  world. 

The  first  thing  they  did  was  to  cut  Belgium  off  from  the  out- 


28    ONE  HUNDRED  PER  CENT  AMERICAN 

side  world,  and  then  to  fill  the  minds  of  the  people  with  news  o£ 
German  manufacture,  this  with  the  idea  of  trying  to  convince 
them  of  the  inevitable  success  of  the  German  Army.  All  Bel- 
gian newspapers  were  suppressed.  For  several  months  all  Ger- 
man newspapers  were  cut  off,  with  two  exceptions;  but  despite 
all  prohibitions  and  all  the  precautions  that  Germans  could  take 
along  the  frontier,  some  were  smuggled  in,  mostly  Dutch  and 
English.  On  the  whole,  they  did  very  little  to  defeat  the  German 
purpose  to  keep  the  people  in  the  dark.  The  first  weeks  of  the 
war,  before  the  Germans  had  learned  the  tricks  of  the  people 
along  the  frontier,  you  could  buy  a  London  paper  at  from  five  to 
twenty  francs.  Later,  when  the  practice  became  more  risky, 
prices  went  up  to  150  francs,  or  about  $30.  Smugglers  found  it 
more  advantageous  to  rent  their  papers  for  half-hour  periods, 
then  sit  on  the  doorsteps  and  wait  the  half  hour,  pass  on  to  the 
next  customer  and  the  next,  until  toward  the  close  of  the  day 
when  the  papers  would  be  sold  by  the  smugglers  for  a  most  sat- 
isfactory figure ! 

But,  as  I  say,  the  Germans  practically,  effectually,  stopped  the 
flow  of  news.  Then  they  set  about  a  carefully  conceived  system 
oi  filling  the  minds  of  the  people  with  doubt  and  dismay.  Every 
morning  the  walls  were  covered  with  German  news  bulletins,  in 
German,  Flemish  and  French.  Everything  that  was  considered 
"fit  to  print."  Although  the  people  knew  perfectly  well  that  these 
posters  were  filled  with  lies  and  half  truths  and  threats,  there  was 
no  resisting  the  curiosity  to  know  what  the  Germans  had  to  say, 
with  the  result  that  by  night  the  Germans  had  accomplished  their 
purpose.  These  bulletins  were  very  optimistic,  so  far  as  the  Ger- 
mans were  concerned.  They  made  no  references  to  German  re- 
verses, but  were  filled  with  the  stories  of  German  victories,  liber- 
ally sprinkled  with  such  phrase  as  "success  with  the  help  of  God" 
and  all  that  sort  of  thing.  When  the  battle  line  was  on  the  Bel- 
gian front,  they  laid  stress  on  the  terrible  slaughter  of  Belgians, 
English  and  French ;  they  laid  stress  on  the  damage  done  by  the 
British  and  French  guns  on  the  Belgian  towns.  When  German 
reverses  would  come  there  was  no  mention  of  them,  but  we  were 
given  special  facilities  for  hearing  what  was  happening  in  other 
theaters  of  war  where  Germans  were  more  fortunate.  When 
von  Kluck  was  driven  back  from  the  Marne,  there  was  no  men- 
tion made  of  it;  but  we  had  most  delightful  news  of  what  was 
going  on  in  Serbia  and  elsewhere. 

The  Belgians  are  incurably  optimistic.  At  first  they  spoke 
openly,  but  after  a  number  of  them  had  been  punished  by  military 
tribunal  for  disrespect  to  the  German  Empire,  they  became  a  lit- 
tle more  discreet,  and  after  that  they  simply  laughed.    But  that, 


INSIDE  OBSERVATIONS  ON  THE  WAR         29 

too,  was  displeasing  to  the  Governor-General,  and  it  was  made 
known  that  any  one  who  was  seen  to  laugh  would  be  severely  pun- 
ished by  the  German  authorities. 

And  with  these  news  bulletins  we  had  every  day  the  laws. 
Laws  were  made  with  great  frequency,  which  prescribed  with 
minute  detail  how  we  were  to  conduct  ourselves.  Every  act  in 
the  streets  of  the  city  and  in  our  homes  was  covered  by  regula- 
tions, forbidding  this,  imposing  that,  and  always  the  price  in 
blood  or  money  for  any  breach  of  German  rule,  and  frequently 
with  this  the  list  of  the  people  who  had  been  put  in  prison,  fined 
in  money,  or  shot  for  disregard  of  these  German  rules,  for  travel- 
ing without  a  pass,  for  any  one  of  a  number  of  offenses  or  for  sus- 
picion. There  was  no  limit  to  the  number  of  offenses  or  the  num- 
ber of  convictions.  It  was  estimated  that  about  eighty-five  thou- 
sand had  been  either  shot  or  sent  to  Germany  as  prisoners,  or 
fined  for  having  displeased  the  Germans  in  various  ways. 

Knowing  the  sort  of  men  we  had  over  us,  we  were  quite  pre- 
pared for  tyranny  in  the  important  things,  but  we  never  were 
able  to  understand  how  the  Germans,  a  people  with  a  war  on 
their  hands,  found  time  for  the  petty  persecutions  with  which 
they  goaded  the  Belgians.  Every  day  brought  fresh  evidence  of 
it.  I  remember  one  small  boy  of  my  acquaintance,  about  seven 
years  old,  who  was  very  much  amused  by  the  German  goose-step. 
One  day,  when  a  company  of  soldiers  was  passing  his  house,  he 
fell  in  behind  them  and  gave  the  best  imitation  he  could.  He 
was  collared  and  taken  off.  We  couldn't  take  it  very  seriously. 
That  was  early  in  the  war,  and  we  didn't  know  as  much  as  we 
do  now;  but  in  order  to  relieve  his  mother's  anxiety,  we  sent  a 
member  of  the  Legation  Staff  to  bring  the  small  boy  back.  We 
found  the  boy  in  a  cell  and  a  number  of  officers  watching  him. 
It  was  proposed  to  leave  him  in  jail  for  three  days.  It  took  our 
best  efforts  for  the  rest  of  the  day  to  get  him  off. 

Not  long  after,  the  Cardinal — Cardinal  Mercier — was  going 
through  the  streets,  and  was  cheered  by  the  street  crowds.  They 
arrested  as  many  of  the  crowd  as  they  could  bag,  and  imposed 
a  fine  of  one  million  marks  on  the  city.  That  sort  of  thing  went 
on  every  day,  and  it  seemed  to  occupy  about  two-thirds  of  the 
time  of  the  authorities,  time  they  might  have  been  devoting  to 
other  things. 

The  first  important  victim  of  this  policy  of  pin-pricks  was  a 
man  you  all  know,  Adolph  Max,  the  Burgomaster  of  Brussels. 
When  the  Germans  came  in,  he  was  saddled  with  the  responsibil- 
ity for  everything  that  happened.  They  forbade  him  making  his 
views  known  to  his  people  by  official  proclamation.  Early  in 
September  the  Military  Governor  of  Brussels  put  up  a  proclama- 


M    ONE  HUNDRED  PER  CENT  AMERICAN 

'  '     '     ' 

Max  gc 

g  \  had 

- 
he  was  fc  ■  ~  >  she 

i 

i  solera 

The 

urise,  Max  n 

- 

a .  s     i  his  absent ; 
^  g  excused 

;mor- 

I  all  and  v  \ ; 

■     -    -  !  ^v.c.      V. 

! 

had  a 

s 
pratvs:  ax  a  >ians  r         g 

■   •   .    ■         :-:<  ,  ■  :    ;. 

.    - 

•  ■  cranny's  interests,  his 

id  thine  to  inflame  the 

.  c 

war  broke  oc:  Rome, 

'"'-:-"    : :    •   *■:;;•« :".-    ■ :  .■;■/.   ■;:.-"  ::;.;:;>  ; :  :  • :  J  r  :- 

C  :;    :\'c:.:v 

...        f  :;:v..vv.ej 


INSIDE  OBSERVATIONS  ON  THE  WAR  31 

ever  since,  save  for  one  short  trip  to  Rome  where  he  spoke  his 
mind.  He  travels  about  the  country  constantly,  counseling  the 
people,  relieving  want,  comforting  the  bereaved,  always  advising 
them  to  maintain  public  order,  but  to  keep  up  their  courage  and 
to  resist  the  overtures  of  the  Germans,  in  full  confidence  of  final 
deliverance.  Once  in  a  while  the  German  Governor-General  takes 
exception  to  what  the  Cardinal  says,  and  sends  him  a  characteris- 
tically brutal  letter.  The  Cardinal  takes  up  his  pen,  makes  his 
reply  in  courteous  terms  and  always  succeeds  in  making  the  Gov- 
ernor-General ridiculous. 

He  has,  among  other  things,  a  very  nice  sense  of  humor,  and 
a  very  comforting  twinkle  in  his  eye.  I  remember  the  last  time 
we  saw  it  was  when  an  American  of  some  substance  stopped  to 
pay  his  respects.  He  was  received  by  the  Cardinal  and  was  com- 
pletely fascinated  by  him.  When  the  time  came  for  the  American 
to  go,  he  held  out  his  hand  and  said,  "There  is  one  thing  I  want 
to  say  to  you,  and  that  is,  you  are  a  Catholic  and  I  am  a  Presby- 
terian, but  I  want  to  tell  you  I  have  got  no  prejudice  against  you 
whatever."  He  will  be  remembered  chiefly  by  his  patriotic  and 
righteous  fight,  and  by  his  pastoral  letters  which  are  read  in  every 
church  in  the  country.  He  wields  an  influence  which  the  Germans 
dread,  and  yet  his  hold  upon  the  people  is  such  that  they  dare  not 
touch  him,  no  matter  what  he  does,  and  he  has  undone  the  work 
of  the  German  Army  Corps  and  brought  many  of  the  schemes  of 
the  Governor-General  to  naught. 

I  have  spoken  of  the  Belgian  sense  of  humor  and  the  comfort 
it  brings  them.  There  are  about  as  many  stories  of  that  as  there 
are  of  German  persecution.  For  instance,  very  early  in  the  war, 
every  Belgian  wore  in  his  buttonhole  a  little  rosette  with  the  na- 
tional colors,  but  the  Germans  didn't  like  that  and  they  got  out  a 
proclamation  forbidding  any  display  of  the  Belgian  national  col- 
ors. After  that  we  noticed  every  Belgian  wore  an  ivy  leaf  in  his 
buttonhole,  and  we  found  out  that  the  motto  of  that  was,  "I  die 
where  I  cling."  Well,  the  Germans  were  annoyed  by  the  ivy  leaf, 
and  issued  another  proclamation  forbidding  the  wearing  of  that. 
Soon  after  that  a  lot  of  the  more  daring  humorists  came  out  with 
little  scraps  of  paper  in  their  button  holes ! 

On  the  first  anniversary  of  the  German  occupation  the  Ger- 
mans were  afraid  there  might  be  manifestations  of  some  sort,  so 
they  gave  an  order  that  the  shops  should  remain  open  instead  of 
closing  as  they  usually  did.  The  Belgians  passed  around  word, 
and  there  were  no  customers.  Every  top  hat  in  Brussels  was  got 
out  and  polished  so  you  could  see  your  face  in  it.  There  was  not 
much  the  Germans  could  do  about  it.  Crowds  dressed  in  their 
holiday  best  promenaded  up  and  down  the  streets,  and  the  shop- 


32    ONE  HUNDRED  PER  CENT  AMERICAN 

keepers  sat  in  their  doorways,  but  never  a  customer  was  there 
that  day.  We  found  out  the  Germans  were  going  to  be  obeyed 
any  way,  so  they  put  up  a  proclamation  saying  that  all  these  places 
must  close  at  eight  o'clock ! 

Sometimes  their  wit  took  a  more  practical  turn.  One  poor 
peasant — the  only  thing  he  had  in  the  world  was  a  pig  he  had  fat- 
tened for  the  market.  When  the  German  Army  was  coming  he 
was  beside  himself  with  fear  that  they  would  take  his  pig  away. 
So  he  and  his  wife  decided  to  kill  the  pig.  After  they  had  cleaned 
it  they  laid  it  in  their  own  bed,  laid  a  white  sheet  over  it  and  put 
candles  at  the  foot  and  head.  Later,  when  the  German  Army 
arrived,  the  peasant  and  his  wife  came  out  with  streaming  eyes, 
saying,  "Death  has  visited  this  house."  The  whole  crowd  stood 
rigidly  at  attention  and  then  went  out  on  tiptoe. 

Perhaps  the  one  thing  that  bothered  us  more  than  anything 
else  was  the  German  system  of  espionage.  The  Governor-Gen- 
eral had  a  huge  army  of  these  people  in  order  to  keep  informed 
about  what  was  going  on,  but  they  were  usually  unscrupulous, 
ignorant  and  underpaid.  They  wandered  about,  looking  not  so 
much  for  news  or  information  as  for  people  they  could  denounce. 
If  a  spy  brought  in  no  one  for  punishment  he  was  dropped.  It 
was  "up  to  him"  to  bring  in  offenders.  The  result  is  that  thou- 
sands of  Belgians  were  punished  for  offenses  they  never  com- 
mitted, and  that  never  occurred. 

I,  myself,  had  a  good  deal  of  experience  with  the  German 
espionage  system.  The  Governor-General  did  me  the  honor  of 
attaching  a  spy  to  my  person.  He  used  to  follow  me  about  the 
streets  when  I  went  out.  The  rest  of  the  time  he  leaned  up  against 
the  front  of  my  house  to  watch  the  people  who  came  and  went. 
He  was  rather  pathetic.  Sometimes  I  used  to  go  out  on  a  windy, 
cold  night  and  tell  him  I  was  not  expecting  any  more  callers  and 
tell  him  he  was  excused  for  the  night !  Altogether  he  had  a  pretty 
good  time,  but  one  time  he  was  missing  for  about  a  week.  When 
he  came  back  I  patted  him  on  the  back  and  told  him  as  seriously 
as  I  could  that  he  was  the  poorest  excuse  for  a  spy  I  had  ever 
seen.  He  was  really  a  good  deal  worried  about  it,  especially 
when  I  told  him  solemnly  that  I  felt  he  had  neglected  me  and  if 
he  didn't  do  better  I  should  have  to  have  him  discharged !  You 
can  imagine  about  how  useful  he  would  have  been  as  a  spy  if  any- 
thing had  been  going  on !  But,  in  spite  of  all  the  spies  could  do, 
the  Belgians  put  over  anything  they  felt  the  need  of,  and  under 
the  nose  of  the  Governor-General. 

They  set  up  in  out  of  the  way  corners  the  publication  of  sev- 
eral clandestine  newspapers.  The  Liberte  Belgique,  which  has 
been  published  now  for  about  two  and  a  half  years,  contains  arti- 


INSIDE  OBSERVATIONS  ON  THE  WAR         33 

cles  written  to  stimulate  the  patriotism  of  the  people  and  turn  the 
Germans  to  ridicule  and  contempt.  And  the  most  amusing  fea- 
ture of  it  all  is  that  the  Governor-General  gets  his  copy  regularly ! 
He  has  never  been  able  to  find  out  where  it  comes  from,  and  has 
offered  rewards  of  a  hundred  thousand  marks  for  information 
leading  to  the  capture  of  the  publishers.  One  day  he  finds  it  on 
the  blotter  of  his  desk ;  another  day  it  is  thrown  in  the  window ; 
another  day  it  comes  to  him  with  his  soup  or  vegetables ;  another 
day  it  comes  to  him  in  his  mail  with  a  bundle  of  German  dis- 
patches !  It  so  got  on  the  nerves  of  von  Bissing  that  he  is  said 
to  have  gone  into  a  tantrum  every  time  it  appeared.  The  articles 
in  this  paper  and  others  like  it  are  always  filled  with  the  same 
message  to  the  people.  The  articles  are  read  and  discussed  and 
really  do  a  great  deal  toward  keeping  up  the  morale  of  the  peo- 
ple, and,  incidentally,  any  Belgian  who  reads  one  of  these  papers 
has  the  feeling  that  he  is  outwitting  the  tyrant,  and  there  is  a  lot 
of  comfort  in  that  feeling. 

Another  thing  that  bothered  us  was  the  German  love  of  bully- 
ing. Every  German  under  that  system  is  supposed  to  bully  some 
other  German.  Every  day  brought  a  hundred  instances  of  this 
fact  that  the  Belgians  were  persecuted  and  browbeaten,  and  the 
only  time  we  got  any  comfort  out  of  it  was  once  when  the  system 
slipped  and  hit  the  wrong  man.  The  delegates  of  the  Relief  Com- 
mission were  stopped  at  the  frontier,  stripped  and  searched.  One 
day  Mr.  Hoover  and  I  made  complaint  to  the  Governor-General 
about  it.  He  said  this  was  all  rubbish  and  we  were  either  mis- 
informed or  we  exaggerated.  Then  somebody  had  the  bright  idea 
of  suggesting  that  we  be  accompanied  by  a  German  officer  in  civil- 
ian clothes,  to  see  how  it  worked  out  in  practice.  As  luck  would 
have  it,  we  had  a  young  man,  the  son  of  a  Cabinet  official.  When 
they  got  to  the  frontier  a  soldier  came  and  roughly  ordered  every 
one  to  get  out  of  the  car.  The  young  man  answered  that  he  held  a 
pass.  The  only  answer  was  that  four  soldiers  grabbed  him  by 
the  legs  and  pulled  him  out  of  the  car  into  the  road  and  an  officer 
came  out  and  told  him  to  go  into  the  guard  house  and  stay  there. 
Another  officer  came  out  and  the  young  man  held  up  his  pass. 
The  whole  proceeding  was  an  outrage,  and  the  victim  so  expressed 
himself.  At  that,  the  officer  seized  him  by  the  throat  and  they 
beat  him  up  and  choked  him  and  pounded  him,  and  they  finally 
reduced  him  to  a  state  of  pulp,  and  then  put  him  under  arrest, 
packed  him  into  a  military  car,  carried  him  back  to  Brussels  and 
then  tried  to  find  out  whether  his  pass  was  any  good!  Within 
an  hour,  everybody  in  Brussels  knew  about  this,  and  was  rejoic- 
ing in  the  fact  that  one  of  the  boches  got  a  taste  of  the  other  end 
of  the  stick.     The  next  day  I  saw  him  and  his  face  was  so  swollen 


34    ONE  HUNDRED  PER  CENT  AMERICAN 

he  could  hardly  talk  out  of  one  side  of  his  mouth,  and  his  dis- 
position was  in  a  dangerous  state  of  inflammation.  One  thing 
that  pained  him  more  than  anything  else  was  this ;  he  said,  "That 
big  man  with  the  black  beard  that  was  kicking  me  from  behind— 
that  was  a  professor  of  ethics  in  the  University  of  Munich." 

Perhaps  in  my  anxiety  to  avoid  telling  you  horrors,  I  have  laid 
too  much  stress  on  the  lighter  side  of  life  there.  I  have  spared 
you  a  detailed  recital  of  atrocities.  I  haven't  told  you  anything 
of  the  systematic  plan  for  the  economic  ruin  of  Belgium,  the  im- 
position of  crushing  fines  on  the  slightest  provocation,  the  carry- 
ing out  of  Belgium  of  all  the  raw  materials  and  machinery  so  that 
Belgium  should  be  stripped  at  the  end  of  the  war.  Then,  too,  to 
my  mind,  the  deportation  ranks  with  the  atrocities.  They  are  a 
reversal  to  the  same  barbarism.  They  were  undertaken  cold- 
bloodedly for  several  purposes;  first,  to  clear  out  a  population 
that  might  be  useful  to  the  Allies  when  Belgium  was  delivered ; 
second,  to  utilize  the  work  of  the  people,  as  they  couldn't  do  un- 
less they  had  them  under  some  sort  of  compulsion;  and  lastly, 
to  break  the  spirit  of  the  people  and  make  them  sue  for  peace 
rather  than  suffer  more.  Those  who  refused  to  work  were  beaten 
and  starved,  and  then,  when  their  health  was  broken  down  under 
this  treatment,  they  were  sent  home  to  die  of  pneumonia  or  tuber- 
culosis. It  is  a  splendid  tribute  to  the  stamina  of  the  people  that 
they  have  never  weakened  under  this  treatment,  and  they  are  just 
as  courageous  and  full  of  determination  as  they  ever  were. 

In  spite  of  all  these  things,  the  Germans  continue  to  wonder 
why  the  Belgians  don't  love  them!  They  probably  never  will 
understand ;  but  the  fact  remains  that  by  their  barbarity  and  by 
their  tyranny  and  incredible  stupidity,  they  have  done  everything 
to  increase  Belgium's  hatred  of  them  and  to  strengthen  their  de- 
termination to  hold  out  until  deliverance  comes,  and  that  is  where 
democracy  tells.  A  people  that  has  known  a  democracy  such  as 
has  prevailed  in  Belgium  is  supported  by  an  enduring  and  reason- 
ing courage  that  no  autocracy  can  stifle,  and  perhaps  the  best 
proof  of  it  is  this:  I  have  talked  to  thousands  of  them,  and 
have  never  found  one  who  regretted  the  decision  of  his  king  to 
accept  death  itself  rather  than  yield,  and  who,  if  the  choice  was 
to  be  made  over  again,  could  make  any  other  decision  than  the 
one  that  was  made  so  unhesitatingly.  A  people  like  that  cannot 
be  conquered  by  German  method  or  by  German  arms. 


INSIDE  OBSERVATIONS  ON  THE  WAR         35 


THREE:  BY  REVEREND  NEHEMIAH  BOYNTON,  D.D. 

I  claim  the  right,  just  for  a  moment,  to  stand  before  you  as  a 
parish  priest,  and  say  my  word  of  appreciation  of  that  magnificent 
character  who  was  referred  to  in  the  opening  of  our  exercises. 
For  Mr.  Cragin  was  one  of  my  own  parishioners,  and  my  relation- 
ships with  him  were  of  a  peculiarly  intimate  character — in  fact, 
when  he  was  meditating  the  forming  of  this  Saturday  Discussions 
Club,  he  took  me  into  his  confidence  because  I  had  been  a  mem- 
ber of  a  similar  club  in  another  city  and  knew  something  about 
the  way  in  which  it  worked.  I  had  the  very  great  privilege  of 
giving  to  him  the  benefit  of  whatever  wisdom  I  had,  and  for  the 
first  few  years  of  the  life  of  this  Saturday  Discussions  Club,  over 
and  over  again  I  had  beneath  my  eye  the  anticipated  programmes 
as  we  talked  together  about  those  great  themes  which  could  prop- 
erly be  brought  before  the  attention  of  a  company  of  red-blooded 
men  and  discussed,  not  in  the  interests  of  small  partisanship,  but 
in  the  interests  of  a  large  Americanism,  and  that  was  the  charac- 
teristic of  this  translated  friend  of  ours,  that  he  found  where  the 
larger  things  of  life  were  in  residence  and  took  up  his  apartments 
there.  There  are  some  people  who  are  like  the  donkey  and  can 
see  only  to  the  end  of  their  noses,  and  if  they  do  see  a  bit  beyond, 
they  are  like  the  donkey  in  that  they  only  discern  a  bundle  of  hay  ; 
but  those  people,  after  all,  do  not  measure  the  symmetry,  the 
magnitude,  the  proportion  of  life.  They  do  not  know  what  that 
eminent  old  saint  meant  when  he  had  engraved  as  the  epitaph 
upon  his  own  tomb,  "Just  Think  of  Living." 

Mr.  Cragin  was  a  man  whose  pocket-book  was  rather  shallow, 
but  there  was  nothing  shallow  about  his  brain,  and  his  heart  was 
very  deep  indeed.  He  answered  to  that  word  of  Goethe's  as  well 
as  most  men, — Goethe,  who  said  that  the  greatest  compliment  he 
ever  received  was  by  some  one  who  called  him  a  circumambient 
man,  a  man  who  could  go  all  around  things  and  from  various 
points  of  view  see  his  work  in  a  true,  in  a  broad  and  in  a  grow- 
ing horizon.  Some  people  say  he  has  passed  out.  I  do  not  like 
the  expression.  He  has  passed  on.  For,  beyond  the  assurances 
in  our  Book  of  God  with  relation  to  the  unending  day,  we  have  in 
these  last  years  the  word  of  no  less  a  scientist  than  Sir  Oliver 
Lodge,  probably  the  leading  scientist  in  the  world  to-day,  who  has 
made  this  prophetic  remark  that  a  moment  like  this  will  send  home 
to  the  hearts  of  every  one,  "The  extinction  of  personality  is  some- 
thing that  does  not  happen." 


36    ONE  HUNDRED  PER  CENT  AMERICAN 

He  does  well  who  does  his  best. 
Is  he  weary?    Let  him  rest. 
Brother,  I  have  done  my  best; 
I  am  weary,  let  me  rest, 
Saying  not,  "Good  night," 
But  in  some  brighter  clime 
Bid  me  "good  morning." 

Exit  the  parish  priest.  And  enter  the  humble  chaplain  in  the 
service  of  the  United  States. 

It  may  seem  strange  that  in  presence  of  the  Ambassador  and 
of  the  diplomat,  one  should  be  asked  to  say  something  from  the 
standpoint  of  the  warrior,  especially  if  he  be  the  kind  of  a  war- 
rior whose  footpaths  are  supposed  to  be  those  of  peace ;  but  I  am 
not  altogether  out  of  place  in  this  assemblage  and  at  this  time, 
because,  thus  far  in  our  discussions  this  afternoon,  we  have  been 
far,  far  away,  over  the  sea.  Our  indignation  has  been  aroused 
by  the  sense  of  outrage  on  the  one  hand,  and  our  own  purposes 
have  been  strengthened  by  new  resolutions  to  adhere  to  our  na- 
tional determinations,  on  the  other  hand.  Now  it  is  time  for  us 
to  sail  back  again  over  the  sea  and  ask  ourselves  two  or  three 
simple  questions  concerning  the  status  of  the  war  in  our  own  land. 

Were  the  hour  earlier  and  the  time  longer,  I  should  like  to 
tell  you  how  I,  myself,  appeared  a  little  while  ago  in  France  as  the 
ambassador  of  peace,  and  how  I  hope  to  appear  a  little  time  later 
as  a  representative  of  war.  I  had  been  appointed  one  of  a  very 
outstanding  international  company  of  men  who  were  to  meet  by 
the  side  of  beautiful  Lake  Geneva  in  1914,  in  the  summer,  and 
arrange  the  few  last  necessities  for  the  peace  of  the  whole  world, 
and,  gentlemen,  we  stood  a  mighty  good  chance,  when  we  sailed 
from  America,  of  being  able  to  accomplish  just  that  thing.  The 
world  was  just  in  the  condition,  and  if  it  had  not  been  that  the 
Kaiser  loved  yachting  as  well  as  I  do — I  know  the  temptation  of 
yachting  in  the  summertime — and  the  Crown  Prince  loved  war 
a  good  deal  better  than  I  do,  it  is  not  impossible  that  the  results 
of  that  international  conference,  which  was  to  have  included  dele- 
gates from  Germany  as  from  the  other  nations  in  the  world, 
might  have  put  the  present-day  situation  of  the  world  in  a  very 
different  attitude.  I  arrived  in  Paris  on  that  fateful  Sunday 
when  war  was  declared,  concerning  which  I  only  wish  to  say 
to  you  that  anybody  in  America  who  had  regarded  himself  as  an 
uncompromising  pacifist  could  not  have  had  the  experience  and 
seen  the  visions  which  I  saw  on  that  day  and  on  the  days  follow- 
ing, and  come  home  to  our  country  with  any  other  than  a  respect 
in  the  very  depths  of  his  soul  for  a  nation  like  our  own,  which, 
in  the  fullness  of  time,  would  announce  a  determined  attitude 


INSIDE  OBSERVATIONS  ON  THE  WAR         37 

against  the  despotism  of  the  invader,  and  a  passion  in  his  own 
heart  to  lend  whatever  strength  had  been  his  for  the  time  being 
in  the  interests  of  peace,  to  the  idea  of  war,  until  righteousness 
and  justice  should  again  obtain  among  the  nations  of  the  earth 
and  the  respect  that  is  due  to  an  ordinary  mortal  be  vouchsafed 
to  him  in  the  north  and  east  and  south  and  on  the  west. 

But  that  was  some  time  ago,  and  I  found  myself  one  day, 
having  been  the  happy  chaplain  of  a  distinguished  regiment  for 
six  years,  summoned  to  make  the  choice  between  going  with  my 
boys  and  enlisting  in  the  service  of  the  United  States,  and  making 
the  other  remark  which  is  sometimes  done,  that,  inasmuch  as 
time  had  placed  its  hand  with  a  somewhat  revelatory  effect  upon 
my  unkept  and  uncovered  head,  it  would  perhaps  be  better  for 
me  to  let  the  younger  men  go.    Not  on  your  life ! 

The  chance  was  too  great ;  the  price  was  too  precious,  and  so, 
on  went  the  uniform  with  joy  undefiled,  and  away  went  the  parson 
and  in  came  the  real  chaplain.  I  suppose  you  will  want  to  know 
how  the  uniform  feels.  Well,  in  the  language  of  the  up-to-date 
tailor,  "It  fits  well  around  the  neck,"  and  especially  over  the  heart. 

I  am  proud  to  stand  here  for  just  a  very  few  moments  as  the 
representative  of  the  young  life  of  America,  which  has  sworn 
anew  its  allegiance  to  the  stars  and  stripes,  and  which  is  waiting 
for  the  destined  hour  when  it  can  prove  to  the  world  that  America 
is  something  more  than  a  nation  of  dollar-hunters;  a  country 
which  believes  that  eternal  principles  are  worth  not  only  de- 
fending to  the  utmost,  but  offering  everything  that  a  true  Ameri- 
can has.  I  am  proud  to  represent  those  boys,  and  have  only 
three  simple  things  that  I  want  to  say  to  you  men  with  relation 
to  them ;  I  want  to  say,  in  the  first  place,  that  anybody  who  knows 
what  is  going  on  understands  that  our  camps  and  our  forts  to-day 
are  the  places  where  we  are  engaged  in  character-making,  and  not 
in  character-smashing!  There  is  a  certain  type  of  lugubrious 
piety  which  seems  to  be  particularly  fond  of  dwelling  on  the 
salacious,  and  which  transfers  its  thought  of  the  salacious  to  the 
boys  who  are  wearing  the  khaki.  God  forgive  her,  but  there 
was  a  woman  in  Connecticut  the  other  day,  according  to  the 
papers,  who  addressed  a  company  of  her  sisters  and  remarked 
that  there  was  now  a  new  "yellow  peril,"  and  that  that  was  the 
boys  who  wore  the  khaki.  She  had  come  to  believe  that  every 
boy  who  put  on  the  khaki  was,  by  that  fact,  under  suspicion 

Now,  I  am  not  even  going  to  narrate  them — you  have  all 
heard  them  over  and  over  again — these  stories  of  character- 
smashing  which  are  attributed  to  our  boys  in  the  camp  and  in  the 
fort,  until  one  would  almost  think  that  the  first  thing  a  young 
American  does  when  he  enlists  in  our  magnificent  army  is  to  play 


38    ONE  HUNDRED  PER  CENT  AMERICAN 

football  with  his  own  character.  There  is  no  greater  lie  being 
disseminated  in  America  to-day,  and  there  is  no  keener  insult 
to  my  son  and  to  your  son  than  to  permit  such  rattle-brained 
statements  to  go  reeling  around  on  their  way.  I  know  what  I 
am  talking  about.  I  know  it  absolutely,  because  I  make  it  part  of 
my  business  to  stand  every  now  and  then  and  watch  their  physical 
examination,  and  after  I  have  watched  their  physical  examination, 
I  have  access  to  the  officers'  records,  and  I  want  to  tell  you  this : 
If  a  young  man  has  forfeited  his  character  before  he  has  en- 
listed in  the  army  and  is  paying  in  his  own  person  the  awful 
penalty  for  that  forfeiture  you  don't  expect  the  next  morning 
to  see  the  angels'  wings  springing  from  his  shoulders,  do  you? 
You  don't  in  civil  life,  anyway.  And,  on  the  other  hand,  if  a 
young  man  has  come,  as  a  vast,  vast,  vast  majority  of  our  young 
men  in  the  army  do,  who  have  enlisted  under  the  call  of  the 
President  have  come,  with  pure  lives  and  with  masterful  purposes, 
you  don't  see  the  horns  of  the  Devil  springing  up  out  of  the  heads 
of  these  young  kids,  either.  The  thing  which  surprises  you  and 
amazes  you  and  delights  you,  as  you  take  your  way  among  these 
men,  is  the  way  in  which  the  experiences  of  the  camp  confirm 
and  strengthen  and  make  like  iron  those  characters  which  have 
hitherto  largely  had  the  shelter  of  the  home  and  the  nobler  society 
of  our  country.  One  could  speak  by  the  hour  to  show  it,  but 
I  want  just  simply,  with  all  the  emphasis  there  is  in  my  soul, 
to  repudiate  the  foul  suggestions  that  our  boys,  taking  them  by 
and  large,  have  no  nobler  conception  of  their  duties  to  present 
their  whole  selves  a  gift  to  their  country  in  the  interest  of  the 
struggle  which  is  now  going  on,  than  simply  to  deal  loosely  and 
easily  with  their  own  personal  characters. 

Oh,  how  their  character  is  growing!  Just  this  morning,  be- 
fore I  came  down  here,  there  was  one  of  our  boys  who  is  the  son 
of  a  rich  man  and  who  has  been  trying  to  make  a  soldier  of 
himself,  but  he  has  had  so  much  ease,  and  things  have  been  so 
soft,  that  I  tell  you  what,  his  experiences  at  Fort  Hamilton  con- 
trast somewhat  vividly  with  those  which  have  hitherto  been  his 
own.  He  has  had  an  easy  position,  but  two  or  three  days  ago  it 
was  found  necessary  to  "jack"  our  camp  up  from  a  military  stand- 
point very  severely,  and  he  came  to  me  this  morning  and  said, 
"I  think  they  have  got  it  in  for  me.  They  have  taken  away  my 
pass  and  they  told  me  this  morning  that  I  must  report  for  in- 
tensive duties  at  one  of  the  batteries.  I  think  they  have  got  it  in 
for  me."  "Well,  my  boy,"  said  I,  "I  don't  think  they  have ;  they 
are  just  'jacking'  things  up,"  and  I  said,  "my  boy,  you  have  got 
the  stuff  in  you.  Now  buck  up."  I  looked  him  in  the  eye,  and 
he  was  saying  to  me  with  his  eyes,  "I  will  buck,  chaplain."    I  pre- 


INSIDE  OBSERVATIONS  ON  THE  WAR  39 

sume  I  did  more  good  that  minute  when  I  gave  that  simple  ex- 
hortation to  that  boy  than  many  a  time  when  I  have  preached  a 
sermon  that  permitted  the  saints  to  go  to  sleep  and  the  sinners 
to  snap  their  watches ! 

Six  months  ago  a  lady  came  to  my  study  in  relation  to  a 
member  of  her  family.  He  was  a  young  man  who  had  had  a  col- 
lege education  and  had  led  a  very  proper  life,  but  recently  had 
adopted  very  radical  views.  This  boy  had  lost  his  personal 
character  as  the  result  of  the  associations  which  had  been  his, 
and  the  new  ideas  which  had  been  adopted,  and  she  asked  me 
what  I  would  do.  I  didn't  hear  from  her  again  until  a  week  ago 
when  I  received  an  eight  page  letter  in  which  there  was  a  notice 
of  his  death.  It  didn't  appeal  to  me  at  all — that  notice  of  the 
death.  In  her  letter  this  lady  said,  "You  will  remember  me  when 
I  tell  you  I  am  the  person  who  came  to  you  six  months  ago  to 
speak  to  you  concerning  my  nephew  about  whom  I  was  very 
much  worried.  After  he  enlisted  there  seemed  to  be  a  tremendous 
change  in  him.  He  not  only  abandoned  the  vicious  habits  which 
had  got  their  hooks  on  him,  but  that  for  six  weeks  his  family 
had  had  the  greatest  comfort  and  pride  in  him  because  of  the 
new  stand  he  had  taken  in  regard  to  the  things  which  were  worth 
while.  I  wanted  to  tell  you  how  glad  we  are  and  how  grateful 
we  are  for  the  discipline  of  the  camp  life  which  transformed  him 
from  a  thoughtless  boy  into  an  earnest,  thinking  and  noble  man." 

If  anybody  tries  to  make  you  believe  that  tommy  rot  that  our 
boys  are  engaged  in  the  groveling  task  of  tearing  down  their 
characters  in  the  camp,  on  shipboard  or  in  the  fort,  you  tell  them 
it  is  a  lie ;  and  you  refer  them  to  me,  and  I  will  either  convince 
them  or  I  will  annihilate  them. 

There  is  another  thing  that  is  happening  to  our  boys,  aside 
from  the  benefits  which  you  will  readily  see,  and  that  is,  that  our 
boys  are  finding  a  new  use  for  their  brains.  People  are  beginning 
to  say,  "The  world  is  being  turned  upside  down,  and  what  is  the 
world  going  to  be  like  when  the  boys  come  home?"  They  say 
our  churches  are  going  to  be  absolutely  transformed.  I  don't 
know  as  that  would  hurt  the  churches  very  much.  Being  a  Con- 
gregationalist  myself,  I  know  there  is  room  for  improvement  in 
the  Presbyterian  church! 

This  is  the  thing  that  is  happening:  Many  of  the  boys  have 
come  into  an  arrangement  of  life,  when,  for  the  first  time,  they 
have  been  really  challenged  by  a  big  ideal,  and  they  are  beginning 
to  look  upon  it  and  they  are  beginning  to  think  about  it,  and  they 
find  in  that  ideal,  religion,  patriotism,  the  things  that  are  worthiest 
in  life.  They  are  asking  themselves,  "What  is  life  for,  anyway? 
[What  is  the  use  of  living?    How  big  a  life  can  a  man  live,  and 


40    ONE  HUNDRED  PER  CENT  AMERICAN 

how  little  a  life  does  a  man  live  ?"  And  those  great  fundamental 
questions  are  coming  up.  Well,  the  boys  are  thinking  as  they 
never  thought  before.  We  thought  it  was  a  joke  two  or  three 
years  ago,  when  that  alumnus  of  one  of  our  American  colleges 
who  was  very  fond  of  athletics  and  who  heard  that  the  college 
was  jacking  itself  up  in  literary  pursuits,  sent  word  to  his  college 
and  said  he  heard  "they  were  trying  to  make  the  college  a  damned 
educational  institution." 

Those  of  us  who  had  generous  fathers  like  myself,  who  paid 
all  the  bills  and  paid  them  promptly  and  cheerfully,  didn't  have 
very  much  to  think  about.  The  boys  who  got  the  most  out  of 
their  college  life  were  the  ones  who  had  to  scratch  for  their  daily 
food,  etc.    Those  same  boys  are  having  the  thoughts  that 

"Wake  to  perish  never, 

Which  never  man  or  boy 
Or  anything  that  is  utterly  an  enemy  to  joy 

Can  utterly  destroy." 

They  are  going  to  come  back  with  a  new  impression  with 
relation  to  the  place  that  commerce  holds  in  a  man's  life,  with  a 
new  sense  of  the  truth  that  republics,  like  individuals,  only  really 
secure  the  things  they  earn  and  for  the  sake  of  which  they  are 
willing  to  make  the  larger  sacrifices.  A  good  many  of  them  have 
been  like  Mark  Twain's  lightning  bug: 

"The  lightning-bug  is  brilliant, 

But  he  hasn't  any  mind ; 
He   goes   glimmering   through   existence 

With  his  headlight  on  behind !" 

There  are  ten  thousand  of  your  sons  that  have  got  their  head- 
lights in  the  right  place,  and  it  is  inspiring  clean  through  into 
the  backbone. 

And  then,  there  is  just  one  thing  more  that  I  want  to  say  about 
these  boys,  and  that  is,  that  a  spirit  of  optimism  pervades  every 
camp  and  every  fort  that  I  know  anything  about,  which  is  just 
as  beautiful  as  it  is  brave.  I  don't  talk  to  our  boys  much  about 
eventualities.  I  never  pass  around  to  my  boys  the  cards  of  the 
popular  undertakers,  or  call  their  attention  to  the  ambulance 
which  now  and  then  flits  around  even  at  Fort  Hamilton.  We 
trade  on  the  good  cheer  of  the  boys.  I  wish  you  could  hear  them 
sing.  Come  down  some  time  to  any  camp  or  any  fort  when  the 
boys  are  having  a  song,  and  hear  them  pour  out  the  great  opti- 
mism of  their  bright  natures,  and  when  you  hear  them  sing  "And 
We  Won't  Come  Back  Till  It's  Over  Over  There,"  you  will  be 
feeling  in  your  pockets  to  see  if  you  have  enough  to  get  over 
there ! 


INSIDE  OBSERVATIONS  ON  THE  WAR  41 

We  teach  the  boys  that  it  is  the  business  of  life  to  live  to-day 
in  the  full,  with  splendid  symmetry  and  proportion,  and  that  by 
making  the  best  of  every  chance  which  To-day  gives  the  boy  to  fit 
himself  for  to-morrow  he  can  reach  that  symmetry;  to  let  To- 
morrow take  care  of  itself  while  he  takes  care  of  To-day.  And 
we  often  quote  to  them  that  bit  which  rang  in  our  ears  when 
we  were  in  the  golden  days  of  youth : 

"Happy  the  man,  and  happy  he  alone, 
He  who  can  call  to-day  his  own ; 
He  who  at  night  can  calmly  say, 
'To-morrow,   do  thy  worst, 
For  I  have  lived  to-day !'  " 

That  is  the  kind  of  boys  that  we  have  in  our  American  army, 
and  all  I  have  to  say  is,  God  pity  the  people  that  come  up  against 
them !  As  I  often  say  to  my  own  boys,  "Do  your  bit  every  day. 
Nobody  knows  but  one  member  of  our  regiment  may  have  the 
privilege  of  drawing  the  bead  on  the  Kaiser,  and  if  you  do,  I 
promise  I  will  fulfill  the  burial  service  without  a  fee!" 


SECOND   DISCUSSION 

JANUARY   TWELFTH,    I918 
OUR  COUNTRY  IN  THE  WAR 


OUR  COUNTRY  IN  THE  WAR 


ONE:     BY  HONORABLE  WILLIAM  S.  KENYON 

United  States  Senator 

I  am  certainly  glad  to  be  here  on  this  occasion,  and  when  the 
Chairman  announced,  and  perhaps  unfortunately,  for  me,  that 
I  was  a  member  of  Congress,  I  heard  some  gentleman  at  my 
right  suggest  that  you  would  try  and  overlook  that  this  afternoon  ! 

We  have  been  glad,  out  in  our  middle  west  country,  to  have 
distinguished  citizens  of  New  York  come  out  to  arouse  the 
patriotism  of  the  Middle  West.  We  really  enjoy  having  them 
come,  and  when  this  invitation  came  to  me,  and  the  only  vote 
against  the  resolution  just  passed  in  Congress  for  war  upon 
Austria  was  cast  by  a  Congressman  from  New  York,  I  thought, 
in  a  spirit  of  reciprocity,  I  would  come  to  New  York  from  the 
Middle  West  and  try  and  arouse  the  patriotism  of  New  York. 

We  like  New  York,  out  in  our  country,  and  there  is  one  sight 
about  New  York  I  am  never  going  to  forget  as  long  as  I  live. 
Two  or  three  weeks  ago  I  came  back  across  the  ocean.  We  were 
twelve  days  on  the  sea,  and  when  we  got  to  New  York  Harbor 
and  saw  that  old  Statute  of  Liberty,  I  felt  like  the  Irishman  who 
had  gone  over  to  visit  Ireland  after  living  in  this  country  a  while, 
and  when  he  got  back  and  they  sailed  up  New  York  Harbor,  he 
took  off  his  hat  to  the  Statue  of  Liberty  and  said,  "Old  lady,  if 
you  ever  see  me  again,  you  have  got  to  turn  around." 

We  have  just  passed  through  that  season  of  "peace  on  earth 
and  good  will  to  men,"  and  there  never  has  been  a  time  in  the  his- 
tory of  the  world  when  there  was  so  little  peace  on  earth  and  so 
much  hatred  among  men  as  now.  Over  ten  million  men  have 
gone  to  their  death  as  the  result  of  this  war.  Forty-five  million 
are  now  probably  under  arms.  This  war  is  costing  the  world 
seventy-five  million  dollars  a  day,  and  in  a  few  years,  if  it  go 
on,  it  will  run  into  the  trillions. 

And  yet,  with  these  staggering  figures,  with  the  momentous 
problems  which  we  are  all  facing  as  nations  engaged  in  this  con- 
test, it  is  no  time  for  pessimism.  Justice  seems  to  have  been  a 
little  delayed,  but  justice  is  on  its  road  to  triumph,  and  in  this 
great  cataclysm  of  the  world,  ideals  are  still  holding  their  place, 

45 


46    ONE  HUNDRED  PER  CENT  AMERICAN 

and  out  of  all  the  disappointments  of  the  last  year  there  is  one 
inspirational  event  to  the  civilized  world — the  capture  of  Jerusa- 
lem from  the  atrocity-loving  Turk,  and  the  firm  resolution  on  the 
part  of  humanity  that  it  never  shall  be  returned  to  the  Turk. 

We  have  been  a  nation  of  peace.  We  did  not  bring  on  this 
war.  America  hated  war.  We  wanted  no  territory  additional 
to  our  own.  We  were  contented  and  happy,  and  we  were  glad 
that  the  rest  of  the  world  could  be  contented  and  happy ;  but  we 
have  learned  as  a  nation  that  it  does  not  take  two  to  make  a 
quarrel.  Any  powerful  nation  determined  to  do  wrong  can  bring 
on  a  war,  if  the  other  nation  to  which  they  intend  the  wrong  has 
any  bit  of  red  blood  in  it.  Men  had  a  right  in  this  country,  before 
this  war  started — and  that  is  why  some  of  you  found  fault  with 
some  parts  of  the  Middle  West — men  had  a  right  then  to  ques- 
tion the  wisdom  of  going  into  the  war;  they  had  a  right  in 
Congress  to  vote  against  it,  to  talk  against  it ;  but  after  the  Consti- 
tutional authority  in  this  nation  had  decreed  there  should  be  war, 
no  man  had  a  right  then  to  say  a  thing  or  to  do  a  single  act  that 
would  injure  his  country  in  this  crisis. 

And  I  believe  that  nearly  every  man  in  this  country  who  did 
doubt  the  wisdom  at  that  time  of  going  into  the  war,  not  knowing 
things  as  they  may  have  developed  now,  has  accepted,  however, 
the  doctrine  of  old  Stephen  Decatur  in  his  toast,  "Our  country, 
in  her  intercourse  with  foreign  nations,  may  she  always  be  right, 
but  our  country,  right  or  wrong."  And  many  people  in  this  country 
who  doubted  the  wisdom  of  our  step  and  who  hesitated  at  the 
momentous  step,  with  fuller  knowledge  of  the  great  issues  in- 
volved, have  become  thoroughly  convinced  that  there  was  nothing 
else  for  America  to  do,  and  some  who  hesitated  about  going 
into  the  war  hesitate  just  as  strongly  now  to  go  out  of  it,  until 
we  accomplish  the  purpose  for  which  we  went  into  it. 

We  could  have  waited  a  little  longer;  we  could  have  gone  on 
with  our  selfish,  indulgent  life,  with  our  desire  not  to  sacrifice 
anything.  Yes,  we  could  have  given  up  our  Monroe  Doctrine; 
if  we  had  wanted  to,  we  could  have  given  to  Germany  the  con- 
trol of  the  sea,  and  said,  "Yes,  we  will  bow  to  you ;  we  will  send 
one  boat  across  the  sea  a  week,  painted  like  a  barber's  pole,  be- 
cause you  asked  to  have  it  done."  We  could  have  done  that,  but 
the  time  would  have  come  eventually  when  we  would  have  been 
forced  into  this  contest. 

The  President  waited ;  Congress  waited ;  people  waited ;  and  I 
believe  the  President  was  wise  in  waiting,  because  in  waiting, 
when  we  went  into  this  war,  he  had  a  solid  nation  behind  him. 

We  could  have  avoided  it  on  the  same  theory  that  a  man  can 
always  keep  out  of  a  quarrel.    If  a  man  comes  into  your  house 


OUR  COUNTRY  IN  THE  WAR  47 

and  slaps  and  insults  your  wife,  you  don't  have  to  have  a  quarrel 
with  him.  You  can  slink  out  of  the  room  and  out  the  back  door, 
and  then  get  down  behind  the  woodshed  like  a  craven  coward, 
but  that  is  not  the  American  spirit.  We  reached  a  point  where 
we  had  to  fight  or  run,  but  the  American  people  do  not  run,  and  I 
thank  God  that  when  we  had  to  go  into  this  conflict,  we  went 
into  it  with  clean  hands,  and  future  historians  will  have  so  to 
record. 

When  we  get  through  with  this  job,  as  the  Chairman  has  said, 
there  are  going  to  be  some  new  principles  of  international  law 
written.  We  didn't  start  this  war.  We  didn't  start  this  Angel  of 
Death  fiddling  all  over  the  world;  but  we  propose  now  to  have 
something  to  say  about  when  the  fiddling  shall  stop,  and  not  turn 
over  to  the  man  who  started  the  war  the  right  to  say  what  the 
peace  terms  shall  be. 

And,  in  addition  to  these  changes  of  international  law  strik- 
ing down  the  doctrine  of  force  and  the  re-establishment  of 
the  doctrine  of  right,  something  else  is  going  to  come 
out  of  this  war.  The  world  is  going  to  have  a  new  concep- 
tion of  American  citizenship.  You  remember  the  old  incident 
in  the  Bible — familiar,  of  course,  to  every  one  in  a  Republican 
Club,  but  I  will  call  attention  to  it !  You  remember  when  Paul 
was  bound  and  he  said  to  the  centurion,  "Is  it  lawful  to  scourge 
a  man  who  is  a  Roman  and  uncondemned  ?"  And  the  centurion 
went  to  the  captain  of  his  host  and  said,  "Take  heed  what  thou 
doest,  for  this  man  is  a  Roman  citizen."  And  so,  when  this  war 
is  over  and  any  citizen  of  any  nation,  or  any  nation,  attempts  to  do 
wrong  to  an  American  citizen  where  he  has  a  right  to  be,  he  is 
going  to  hesitate  and  say,  "Take  heed  what  thou  doest ;  this  man 
is  an  American  citizen,  protected  by  the  power  of  the  mightest 
nation  on  earth." 

True,  we  have  our  American  issue,  the  killing  of  our  Ameri- 
can people,  closing  to  us  the  freedom  of  the  seas,  but  that  has 
grown  out  into  a  greater  issue,  a  great  world  issue.  It  is  hard 
sometimes  for  us  to  grasp,  hard  for  us  to  visualize,  a  war  three 
thousand  miles  away;  but  it  is  now  a  contest  between  these  two 
great  systems  in  the  world,  and  you  cannot  have  triumphant 
autocracy  in  Europe  and  flourishing  democracy  in  this  country. 
It  isn't  merely  a  question  of  making  "the  world  safe  for  democ- 
racy." That  is  only  half.  It  is  a  question  of  making  this  old 
world  safe  for  humanity,  and  I  have  come  to  believe  that  you  can- 
not make  the  world  safe  for  humanity  if  the  glorious  old  Anglo- 
Saxon  race  is  to  go  down. 

In  this  struggle  we  meet  a  foe  trained  in  the  philosophy  that 
God  is  a  German  God.    I  met  a  resident  of  your  country  (turn- 


48    ONE  HUNDRED  PER  CENT  AMERICAN 

ing  to  Doctor  De  Sadeleer  of  Belgium) — bless  your  little  country; 
we  are  going  to  restore  that  when  peace  comes — and  he  said, 
"We  pray  to  God  and  the  Germans  pray  to  God,  and  it  looks  as  if 
God  was  a  German  God."  One  of  the  pieces  of  business  that  we 
have  got  on  hand  in  this  war  is  to  dissolve  this  self-constituted 
partnership  between  the  Kaiser  and  God,  which  God  doesn't  seem 
to  know  very  much  about.  All  through  the  teachings  of  the  Ger- 
man philosophers  and  in  the  teachings  of  their  ministers  of  the 
Gospel,  runs  this ;  that  Germany  must  rule  the  world.  Her  people 
had  learned  that ;  they  are  ready,  apparently,  to  give  up  their  lives 
for  that  doctrine,  and  so  the  military  power  of  Germany  started 
out  to  "bluff"  the  world.  A  reign  of  terror  and  frightfulness,  the 
like  of  which  the  world  has  never  known,  was  started,  but  they 
might  as  well  understand  that,  so  far  as  Great  Britain  and  France 
and  the  United  States  are  concerned,  they  can't  be  "bluffed." 
Great  Britain  and  the  United  States  know  a  "bluff"  when  they  see 
it,  because  they  have  tried  to  practice  so  many  of  them  on  one 
another  in  the  days  gone  by. 

And  we  are  not  frightened  by  any  of  this  talk  about  "the 
mailed  fist." 

They  have  overrun  Belgium  in  this  reign  of  terror,  and 
overrun  Northern  France.  Oh,  I  am  glad  we  can  come  to  the 
help  of  Belgium;  I  am  glad  we  can  come  to  the  help  of  France. 
When  we  were  a  little  struggling  nation,  or  trying  to  struggle 
into  the  family  of  nations,  when  we  could  hardly  walk,  we  reached 
out  our  hands  for  help  and  who  came?  France.  The  people 
stood  over  at  old  Liberty  Hall  at  Philadelphia  and  watched  Ro- 
chambeau  go  by  on  his  way  to  Washington.  General  Lafayette 
came  too,  ready  to  give  his  life.  The  bread  that  France  cast  on 
the  waters  one  hundred  years  ago  is  coming  back  to  them  now. 

I  happened  to  be  in  France  when  the  boys  of  the  Rainbow 
Division  landed,  that  wonderful  division,  the  boys  from  New 
York,  boys  from  Iowa,  from  every  State  in  the  Union,  a  rainbow 
of  hope,  and  a  gentleman  told  me  of  seeing  those  troops  at  a 
certain  port  which  I  suppose  cannot  be  mentioned  for  the  censor- 
ship. He  told  me  that  people  remained  around  there  for  a  day 
or  two,  watching  for  the  American  troops.  The  boats  finally  came 
up  the  harbor  with  the  American  boys,  and  a  band  along  the  dock 
commenced  to  play  "The  Marsellaise."  He  said  he  saw  a  little 
French  girl  with  her  mother.  She  seemed  very  much  agitated 
and  she  didn't  seem  to  understand  it.  Finally  she  caught  the 
word  Americains.  She  seemed  to  grasp  it,  and  reaching  up  and 
putting  her  arms  around  her  mother's  neck,  said  in  French  of 
course,  the  English  of  which  would  be  "Oh,  Mother,  they  have 
come  to  save  us."    I  tell  you,  it  is  a  great  thing  my  friends,  to 


OUR  COUNTRY  IN  THE  WAR  49 

have  an  opportunity  to  do  some  part  in  a  work  like  that,  and  when 
this  war  is  over,  our  relationship  to  France  is  so  quite  different, 
I  think,  from  our  relationship  to  other  nations,  close  and  intimate 
as  they  may  be,  when  this  war  is  over,  I  want  us  to  say  to  France : 
"You  came  to  us  in  our  trouble.  The  great  republic  is  not  for- 
getful. We  cancel  every  dollar  of  obligation  of  the  money  we 
have  loaned  you.  We  don't  want  you  to  give  us  back  a  single 
penny."    That  is  what  we  ought  to  do  to  France. 

I  went  through  Northern  France  a  few  weeks  ago.  I  never 
imagined  that  there  could  be  such  wanton  destruction.  Towns 
blown  up,  not  for  military  purposes,  but  out  of  pure  deviltry; 
cathedrals  destroyed,  on  the  walls  of  some  of  the  different  cathe- 
drals written  "With  the  love  of  your  enemies"  and  "Rage  not  but 
wonder."  At  Albert  a  cathedral  with  a  statue  of  the  Madonna, 
a  magnificent  cathedral,  was  shelled,  so  that  this  statue  is  at  right 
angles  from  the  steeple,  holding  out  the  little  Child  Jesus  over  the 
city.  The  Madonna  was  not  safe,  and  I  suppose  as  these  cathe- 
drals were  shelled,  that  the  Kaiser  wired  to  his  armies,  "On  with 
God."  The  blasphemy  of  all  the  miserable  business !  Cities  that 
had  populations  of  eight  or  ten  thousand  people  now  with  only 
two  or  three  hundred.  Half  an  hour  to  get  out  of  town  and  take 
no  horses.  And  yet  Count  von  Hertling,  who  is  now  engaged  in 
bringing  about  a  German  peace,  said  in  an  address  a  few  weeks 
ago  that  they,  the  Germans,  were  saving  Europe  from  America ! 
Saving  Europe  from  America !    Oh,  what  are  they  saving  it  for  ? 

They  have  shelled  defenceless  women  and  children  in  the 
towns ;  they  have  shelled  Red  Cross  hospitals ; — and  I  am  going 
to  indulge  in  no  hysterical  statements ;  nothing  but  what  I  could 
prove ; — hospital  ships  sent  down  to  the  bottom  with  poor,  weak, 
struggling  men  thereon,  even  then  struggling  for  their  lives. 
They  have  taken  the  women  and  children  of  Belgium  and  France, 
as  you  know,  and  put  them  in  front  of  their  armies  in  their 
charges  on  the  French.  They  have  taken  girls  away  for  worse 
than  bondage ;  they  have  poisoned  wells ;  they  have  cut  down  fruit 
trees.  I  saw  hundreds  of  them  just  cut  down,  for  no  military 
purpose.  Even  in  the  gardens  of  the  peasants,  the  little  rose 
bushes  were  destroyed.  I  tell  you,  gentlemen,  whether  you  are 
from  the  East  or  from  the  West,  I  bring  this  message  to  you  from 
the  manhood  of  the  West;  before  we  are  willing  that  these  things 
shall  come  to  our  country,  we  stand  shoulder  to  shoulder  with  you 
in  the  resolution  that  we  had  better  die,  every  one  of  us,  and  we 
will  die,  before  we  will  ever  permit  it  to  come  to  America. 

One  man  is  responsible  for  all  this,  one  man  with  his 
palaces,  with  his  six  bomb-proof  sons ;  for  it  was  amazing  to  me 
when  I  inquired  down  on  the  battlefield  of  the  Marne  where  the 


50    ONE  HUNDRED  PER  CENT  AMERICAN 

Crown  Prince  was,  and  over  at  Verdun,  he  was  always  safely  in 
the  rear !  There  is  one  family  in  Germany  that  hasn't  lost  a  single 
soul,  and  that  is  the  Kaiser's  family.  Some  Belgian  woman, 
chided  by  a  German  soldier  about  having  no  land,  replied,  "I  had 
rather  have  a  king  who  has  lost  his  country,  than  an  emperor  who 
has  lost  his  soul."  And  this  is  the  gentleman  who  is  now  trying, 
by  the  most  skillful  intrigue,  to  bring  about  peace  in  the  world. 
Is  America  going  to  nibble  at  his  bait  ? 

A.ustria  and  Germany  are  in  a  conspiracy  against  freedom. 
Turkey  is  their  partner.  We  ought  to  declare  war  on  Turkey 
also,  unless  there  is  some  mighty  good  reason  for  doing  otherwise, 
and  there  may  be. 

In  all  of  this,  what  do  they  expect  of  America?  I  cut  out  of 
the  paper,  coming  over  last  night,  the  words  of  Churchill  of  yes- 
terday or  the  day  before:  "America,  come  and  aid  us  with  all 
your  might  and  speed,  for  this  is  the  time  for  action  on  the  largest 
scale  ever  planned."  They  are  counting  on  us.  That  was  im- 
pressed on  me  one  Sunday  evening.  We  were  below  St.  Quentin, 
in  the  third  trench,  where  there  was  a  concealed  battery,  and  a 
little  French  fellow  in  there  who  could  speak  English,  said,  "We 
are  driving  the  boches  out  fast ;  but  when  you  folks  get  here,  we 
are  going  to  drive  them  out  faster."  Those  people  of  France 
seem  to  regard  us  as  a  poor,  weak  sister  would  regard  a  great 
big  brother  coming  to  save  her.    We  must  not  fail. 

Ships,  ships,  ships;  that  is  the  great  need,  the  tremendous 
problem  of  getting  our  men  and  munitions  and  supplies  across 
the  water.  It  is  a  tremendous  problem,  and  we  will  get  those 
ships  quickly,  in  my  judgment,  if  all  of  the  quarreling  and 
wrangling  and  arguing  is  done  away  and  all  the  red  tape  is  cut  at 
Washington,  and  we  just  get  down  to  plain,  common,  horse-sense 
business,  and  build  the  ships. 

The  saddest  words  that  this  nation  will  ever  write,  if  we  do 
not  hasten,  will  be  the  words,  "Too  Late."  Do  you  remember 
when  the  Saviour  was  in  the  Garden  of  Gethsemane  and  his 
disciples  slept  ?  Coming  back  again  and  again  and  finding  them 
asleep,  the  Saviour  finally  said,  "Sleep  on  now.  It  is  too  late." 
England  was  nearly  too  late.  If  it  had  not  been  for  the  construc- 
tive genius,  the  courage  and  the  dynamic  force  of  one  man  in 
England,  she  probably  would  have  been  too  late.  That  man  is 
the  best  loved  man  on  the  Continent  of  Europe  among  the  Allies, 
the  splendid  Premier  of  England,  Lloyd  George. 

There  never  has  been  a  war  where  there  was  such  correla- 
tion and  the  necessity  of  such  correlation  of  forces.  Artillery 
and  airplanes  are  going  to  win  this  war.  Infantry  is  nearly 
powerless  without  the  artillery ;  the  artillery  can  do  but  little  with- 


OUR  COUNTRY  IN  THE  WAR  51 

out  the  airplane.  At  a  certain  place  near  Vimy  Ridge  there  was 
a  great  gun.  I  saw  it  in  operation,  down  under  the  hill.  Over 
the  hill,  about  four  miles  away  were  the  German  lines.  The  day 
before — they  told  us  the  operation  of  that  gun,  and  I  tell  it  be- 
cause it  shows  the  necessity  of  airplanes — there  were  airplanes 
hovering  over  the  hill.  A  battery  over  at  the  German  lines  had 
been  doing  great  destruction.  This  gun  was  to  put  that  battery 
out  of  business.  That  was  its  business.  The  first  shot  was  fired, 
and  the  airplane  wired  back  to  the  gunners,  "Two  kilometers  too 
far."  At  the  next  shot  the  wireless  came  back,  "One  kilometer 
too  short."  The  next  shot  hit  square  on  the  battery  and  wiped 
it  out  of  existence.  Without  the  airplane  it  could  not  have  been 
done.  Airplanes  are  what  we  need  over  there,  with  big  cannon. 
Ten  thousand  airplanes  starting  on  a  trip  to  Berlin  from  behind 
the  lines  would  come  mighty  near  nailing  the  stars  and  stripes  to 
the  flag-pole  of  the  Kaiser. 

And  I  don't  know  how  you  feel  about  it ;  I  did  not  have  much 
heart  for  retaliation,  but  after  seeing  the  terror  and  death  caused 
in  London  by  air  raids,  the  one  I  saw  resulting  in  the  death  of 
one  poor  man  and  his  wife  and  their  six  children  and  nothing 
else,  I  became  somewhat  of  a  convert  to  the  doctrine  of  retaliation. 
You  can't  justify  on  our  part  or  the  Allies'  part  going  out  and 
killing  defenseless  women  and  children.  It  seems  a  dreadful 
thing  to  do.  There  is  only  one  theory  on  which  our  conscience 
can  be  at  ease  about  it,  and  that  is  this,  it  is  the  only  way  to  stop 
the  ruthless  bombardment  from  the  skies  of  women  and  children 
of  the  Allies,  and  under  that  theory  we  would  be  justified  in  doing 
what  we  could  to  protect  our  own  women  and  children. 

I  want  to  relate  to  you  an  incident  that  was  rather  pleasing 
to  me  at  Vimy  Ridge  which  was  captured  just  as  we  declared 
war.  Up  the  hill  went  those  Canadians  in  two  hours  and  cap- 
tured Vimy  Ridge ;  but  among  those  Canadians  there  were  nine 
thousand  American  boys.  And  one  of  the  first  flags  to  be  planted 
on  Vimy  Ridge  right  after  we  declared  war  was  the  stars  and 
stripes  carried  by  a  long,  lanky  fellow  from  Texas. 

You  hear  a  good  deal  to  the  effect  that  we  have  done  nothing 
in  this  war,  that  we  do  more  talking  than  we  do  acting;  but  I 
say  to  you  that  the  feats  of  the  American  Navy  are  worthy  the 
best  traditions  of  our  Navy.  In  all  the  criticism  that  has  gone  on, 
there  has  been  no  criticism  of  the  American  Navy.  And  when 
you  travel  through  the  submarine  zone  and  wake  up  some  morn- 
ing to  see  a  little  destroyer  on  each  side  of  your  boat  with  the  flag 
of  your  country  flying,  it  is  the  best  sight  you  ever  saw  in  this 
world. 

Those  American  destroyers  have  adopted  new  tactics.     The 


52    ONE  HUNDRED  PER  CENT  AMERICAN 

captain  of  a  great  ocean  liner  told  me  that  within  three  days  after 
they  arrived  over  there,  you  could  notice  the  difference  in  the  sub- 
marine activities.  They  do  not  circle,  as  the  British  and  French 
have  been  doing,  around  the  submarine.  No ;  when  they  see  one, 
they  go  straight  to  it.  Dangerous  ?  Yes,  but  that  is  the  Ameri- 
can way.  They  are  so  skillful  they  can  almost  dodge  the  tor- 
pedoes. And  they  ram  the  submarine  if  they  get  the  chance, 
bobbing  over  the  waves  of  the  sea,  straight  for  it.  They  have 
put  the  fear  of  God  into  the  hearts  of  the  German  commanders  of 
the  submarines,  and  when  the  story  of  this  war  is  told,  we  shall 
find  that  the  American  Navy  has  done  splendid  work,  and  there 
will  be  hundreds  of  these  boys  of  the  sea  who  stood  with  their 
guns  all  night  on  these  merchant  boats,  cold  and  wet.  We  will 
know  of  them  on  the  destroyers,  with  hardly  a  chance  to  rest  and 
never  a  chance  to  sit  down,  they  will  be  some  of  the  great  un- 
known, unnamed  heroes  of  this  war. 

It  is  no  time  for  gloom.  It  is  no  time  to  think  that  things  are 
running  against  us,  because  they  are  not.  It  took  England  two 
years  to  get  on  a  substantial  war  basis.  It  is  going  to  take  some 
time  to  evolve  a  great  peace  nation  into  a  war  nation,  but  in  the 
future  we  will  never  be  found  in  such  a  condition  of  unprepared- 
ness  as  we  were  when  this  war  started,  and  I  believe  that  one  of 
the  best  ways  to  be  ready  for  future  troubles  will  be  to  have 
universal  military  training. 

There  isn't  any  trouble  with  the  patriotism  of  our  nation. 
Don't  you  Eastern  people  get  it  in  your  minds  that  there  is  any 
trouble  with  the  patriotism  of  the  Middle  West.  It  is  a'bout  time 
for  the  East  and  the  West  to  stop  making  faces  at  each  other  and 
lock  arms  in  this  contest.  There  isn't  any  more  patriotism  in  one 
section  of  this  country  than  there  is  in  the  other.  It  is  the  old 
American  patriotism  that  will  always  come  to  the  front.  We 
found  it  in  the  days  of  '61  and  it  is  here  now ;  the  same  patriotism 
that  was  with  Grant  at  Shiloh  and  at  Vicksburg;  the  same  pa- 
triotism that  was  with  old  Pat  Thomas  at  Chickamauga  and  that 
followed  Joe  Hooker  above  the  clouds  until  the  stars  of  the  old 
flag  twinkled  side  by  side  with  the  stars  of  the  heavens.  It  is  the 
same  patriotism  that  was  with  Hancock  on  those  immortal  days 
at  Gettysburg ;  with  Farragut  at  Mobile,  damning  the  torpedoes  ; 
and  with  Dewey  destroying  the  Spanish  fleet  at  Manila  harbor. 
There  isn't  any  trouble  with  the  patriotism  of  the  American 
people. 

Great  things  are  going  to  come  to  this  country  out  of  this  war. 
We  are  going  to  be  stronger  and  better.  We  are  going  to  be  less 
selfish,  we  are  going  to  grow  great  by  sacrifice.  Oh,  we  must 
learn  that  lesson  of  sacrifice.     They  are  sacrificing  over  there. 


OUR  COUNTRY  IN  THE  WAR  53 

France  has  given  two  and  a  half  million  of  her  men.  You  can 
ride  along  the  Somme  and  see  fifteen  miles  of  graves  on  either 
side.  You  can  ride  up  the  hill  at  Verdun  and  see  a  great  ceme- 
tery ;  and  at  the  Marne  I  stood  and  looked  over  that  scene,  palms 
above  the  French  graves,  side  by  side  with  the  German  graves, 
a  great  sea  of  waving  palms. 

They  have  stood  the  test.  They  have  sacrificed.  In  England 
you  will  find  the  women  in  the  munition  factories  the  same  as  in 
France.  I  visited  one  in  England  where  five  thousand  women 
were  working;  and  another  in  France  where  fifteen  thousand 
women  were  working,  cheery  and  singing  about  their  work. 

I  want  to  tell  you  a  little  incident.  It  illustrates  the  character 
of  these  British  people.  Ambassador  Page  told  me  that  when  he 
had  charge  of  matters  there,  and  I  want  to  say  in  passing  that 
Ambassador  Page  is  an  honor  to  this  country  and  one  of  the  best 
loved  men  in  England,  that  the  British  women  used  to  come  and 
inquire  about  their  boys,  he  having  charge  of  such  affairs,  and  he 
said  sometimes  he  would  have  to  say  the  boy  was  gone ;  some- 
times he  was  a  prisoner,  and  that  woman,  that  mother,  would 
walk  out  of  his  office  without  a  tear  in  her  eye.  That  is  the  kind 
of  spirit  of  the  women  of  England. 

There  is  the  same  kind  of  spirit  in  America.  They  are  sacri- 
ficing. They  are  .getting  along  without  as  much  to  eat,  probably 
as  they  should  have.  There  is  a  gloom  over  their  country,  natur- 
ally; but  there  is  no  desire  on  their  part  ever  to  stop  until  this 
matter  is  settled  right. 

We  have  got  to  sacrifice,  save  on  our  foodstuffs,  think  a  little 
less  about  self  and  get  to  thinking,  each  one  of  us,  about  our  na- 
tion,— forget  ourselves.  Patriotism  in  this  country  does  not  con- 
sist in  attending  banquets  of  seven  and  eight  courses  in  order  to 
discuss  food  conservation,  or  in  rising  when  the  orchestra  plays 
the  "Star  Spangled  Banner,"  and  then  telegraphing  your  Con- 
gressman at  Washington,  "For  God's  sake,  don't  tax  anything  in 
which  we  are  interested."  We  have  got  to  learn  what  sacrifice 
means,  and  we  are  going  to  do  it.  And  out  of  this  war  there  are 
coming  great  things  for  our  country,  though  the  price  we  pay  will 
be  heavy.  But  when  it  is  all  over,  we  are  going  to  have  a  citizen- 
ship here  that  means  something.  We  are  going  to  have  no  more 
hyphenated  Americanism  in  this  country.  If  there  are  those  in 
our  country  who  care  more  for  some  other  country  than  they 
do  for  this,  they  ought  to  be  escorted  to  that  country  at  once,  and 
the  sooner  the  better. 

I  was  told  of  a  condition  the  other  day  that  existed  in  eight 
or  nine  States  of  this  Union,  where  men  can  vote  for  electors 
who  in  turn  select  the  President,  when  these  voters  are  not  citi- 


54    ONE  HUNDRED  PER  CENT  AMERICAN 

zens  of  the  United  States,  and  we  have  a  sample  out  in  Indiana 
of  some  man  elected  mayor  of  a  city  out  there,  who  has  to  get 
some  kind  of  a  pass  as  an  alien  enemy  to  get  to  certain  parts  of 
Indiana!  Men  who  have  come  to  this  country  and  accumulated 
great  properties — some  of  them  have  accumulated  farms  in  my 
State — men  who  have  been  here  for  five  years  and  have  accumu- 
lated these  properties,  who  evidence  no  intention  to  become  citi- 
zens of  the  United  States  ought  to  be  compelled  to  leave  the 
country. 

It  is  no  time,  my  friends,  for  partisanship  in  this  nation.  We 
don't  have  it  at  Washington.  I  see  a  distinguished  Senator 
from  your  State  here,  one  of  the  hardest  working  members  of 
the  American  Senate.  I  see  him,  like  nearly  all  the  other  Sena- 
tors, standing  squarely  behind  all  of  the  war  preparations,  re- 
gardless of  whether  the  bill  comes  from  the  Democratic  side  or 
from  the  Republican  side. 

And  it  is  not  a  time,  either,  in  this  country  for  incompetency. 
It  is  not  a  time  to  stifle  criticism.  Honest  criticism  of  the  gov- 
ernment is  helpful,  and  at  Washington  now  there  are  going  on 
investigations  some  of  which  are  helpful.  The  people  of  this 
country  are  entitled  to  know  how  their  money  is  being  spent  and 
that  a  public  dollar  is  going  as  far  as  a  private  dollar.  We  are 
submitting  to  meatless  days  and  wheatless  days  and  sweetless 
days  in  our  homes.  I  insist  that  we  shall  have  porkless  days  in  the 
American  Congress.  And  inefficiency,  wherever  it  may  be, 
whether  it  be  in  Congress  or  in  the  heads  of  Bureaus  or  in  the 
Cabinet  of  the  nation,  inefficiency  should  go. 

And  in  these  days  of  non-partisanship  which  we  Republicans 
are  practicing,  and  I  think  most  of  our  Democratic  friends  are 
too  (I  never  dare  say  anything  against  a  Democrat,  because  I 
married  one  of  them  and  I  have  learned  never  to  argue  with  a 
Democrat!),  but  in  these  days,  how  reassuring  it  would  be  to  the 
people  of  this  nation,  how  it  would  arouse  the  patriotic  fervor 
of  the  whole  nation,  if  we  could  in  this  spirit  of  non-partisanship, 
have  a  coalition  Cabinet.  Suppose  we  could  have,  suppose  New 
York  could  have  two  members  of  the  Cabinet,  and  I  suppose 
they  are  always  willing  to  take  them,  but  if  we  could  have  in  the 
Cabinet  of  the  nation  Elihu  Root  and  Theodore  Roosevelt — I  see 
Roosevelt  is  nearly  as  popular  in  New  York  as  he  is  in  Iowa — 
and  if  in  some  of  these  missions  abroad,  we  could  have  utilized 
the  services  of  such  a  magnificent  American  as  William  Howard 
Taf t !  We  need  some  Republican  brains  in  running  this  country, 
just  as  well  as  all  Democratic  brains,  although  I  am  not  finding 
fault  with  the  Democratic  brains. 

This  non-partisanship,  putting  our  country  above  our  party, 


OUR  COUNTRY  IN  THE  WAR  55 

has  characterized  the  action  of  the  Republican  members  of  the 
American  Congress  and  I  am  glad  of  that,  and  most  of  the  Demo- 
cratic members,  too. 

If  it  were  not  for  the  little  bits  of  humor  that  creep  up  now 
and  then,  the  whole  European  continent  would  be  one  great  cloud 
of  gloom;  but  some  of  the  humorous  things  you  see  are  rather 
pleasing,  although  it  is  hard  to  get  in  a  humorous  frame  of  mind 
in  this  serious  time  of  the  world's  history.  They  have  a  lot  of 
Chinamen  over  there,  and  the  first  night  some  of  the  Chinamen 
were  working  at  a  great  English  storehouse  it  was  bombarded  and 
a  lot  of  the  Chinamen  went  out  and  climbed  the  trees  in  order  to 
be  safe,  and  some  of  the  Chinamen  went  and  protested  that  this 
bombing  business  was  not  in  their  contract ! 

They  dropped  some  bombs  on  a  camp  of  German  prisoners, 
and  these  prisoners  insisted  that  the  British  send  a  protest  to  Ger- 
many against  bombing  them !  And  one  old  English  Major,  telling 
me  about  the  experiences  of  his  captain,  said,  "There  is  a  won- 
derful spirit  in  those  Tommies.  Three  or  four  of  us  went  over 
the  top.  They  were  not  expecting  us.  They  were  in  their  dug- 
outs. They  go  from  the  trenches  into  the  dug-outs  and  sleep 
there.  Our  captain  went  alone  into  one  of  those  dug-outs  and 
brought  five  of  those  beggars  out  as  prisoners.  That  is  jolly  good 
work,  don't  you  know."  And  another  of  those  English  soldiers 
was  in  the  hospital  all  torn  to  pieces,  and  when  he  came  to,  the 
nurse  asked  him  "How  did  this  happen?"  ''Well,"  he  said,  "we 
had  come  out  of  the  trenches.  We  had  been  in  all  day  and  all 
night,  penned  up,  and  we  thought  we  were  going  to  get  a  good 
dinner.  The  captain  came  along  and  said,  'Get  right  back  there/ 
'Oh,'  but  they  said,  'we  want  the  dinner.'  The  captain  said, 
'You  don't  need  any  dinner.  You  will  all  be  dead  inside  of  thirty 
minutes,  anyhow/  And  we  all  were,  including  the  blooming 
optimist." 

I  want  to  just  suggest  another  thing,  and  I  may  be  wrong 
about  this  proposition,  but  it  is  something  we  ought  to  think 
about.  I  wish  we  could,  somehow  or  other,  get  this  thought  un- 
der the  German  skull — perhaps  it  will  take  a  surgical  operation  to 
do  it — that  when  this  war  is  over,  if  they  keep  on  waging  war 
contrary  to  all  rules  of  war  and  humanity,  if  they  keep  up  this 
cruelty,  that  the  world,  the  civilized  part  of  it,  after  the  war,  will 
absolutely  refuse  to  trade  with  Germany.  We  ought  to  organize 
the  financial  powers  of  this  Western  Continent  and  send  our  Am- 
bassadors to  South  America,  in  order  to  carry  out  that  plan,  be- 
cause if  you  can  get  that  into  the  brains  of  the  ruling  classes 
of  Germany  and  into  the  heads  of  their  great  financiers  and 
merchants,  it  will  do  more  to  end  this  war  than  anything  else. 


56         ONE  HUNDRED  PER  CENT  AMERICAN 

A  man  told  me  on  the  boat,  a  Jewish  friend  of  mine,  that  he 
had  a  friend  over  in  Germany  engaged  in  business,  a  Jewish  mer- 
chant. He  said  this  merchant  went  to  a  member  of  the  ruling 
classes  of  Germany  and  said,  "You  must  stop  this  submarine 
business.  Why,"  he  said,  "every  time  you  sink  a  boat  you  lose 
a  customer."  But  if  they  ever  get  this  notion  into  their  heads,  it 
will  do  a  good  deal  to  end  this  war,  and  if  this  keeps  up,  who  is 
going  to  buy  German  goods  after  the  war  ?  We  have  had  no  envy 
of  Germany  and  its  great  commercial  success,  not  at  all.  But  we 
will  refuse — I  believe  people  will  refuse  for  a  hundred  years  to 
come,  at  least  for  our  generation,  to  buy  German-made  goods. 

A  state  senator  came  down  to  Washington  from  my  state. 
He  told  me  he  had  a  pencil  marked  "Made  in  Germany."  He  was 
a  pretty  prosperous  fellow,  so  he  was  staying  at  the  New  Wil- 
lard  (unless  he  goes  around  and  eats  his  breakfast  at  Childs;  one 
has  to  be  pretty  prosperous  to  stay  there).  The  pencil  was 
marked  "Made  in  Germany."  He  cut  that  off  before  he  went  to 
bed,  and  he  said  in  the  night  he  got  to  thinking  about  it,  and  he 
got  up  and  threw  that  pencil  out  of  the  window. 

Who  wants  in  their  homes  any  goods  made  by  the  hands  that 
have  bayoneted  women  and  children,  that  have  dropped  bombs 
on  defenseless  women  and  children,  that  have  manned  the  German 
submarine,  sending  men,  women  and  children  to  their  death  with- 
out a  chance  for  their  lives?  Who  wants  to  buy  any  of  those 
things?  Let  them  take  their  goods  and  go  to  Hell  with  them. 
That  is  where  they  belong.  For  the  Devil  certainly,  in  a  spirit 
of  kindness  and  reciprocity,  ought  to  appoint  the  Kaiser  the  Chief 
of  his  staff.    He  has  out-deviled  the  Devil  in  cruelty. 

We  hear  a  lot  about  peace  in  this  country,  and  that  is  what 
I  want  to  talk  about  for  a  minute.  I  was  not  one  of  those  who 
was  anxious  to  get  into  this  war.  I  hoped  we  might  keep  out,  but 
I  am  just  as  insistent  now  that  we  make  no  peace  terms  until  we 
have  gone  through  with  this  thing  to  a  finish  that  will  mean 
a  permanent  peace. 

The  Kaiser  is  constantly  quoting  Scripture  for  his  purposes. 
And  I  have  a  little  Scripture  here  that  I  jotted  down,  that  I  want 
to  commend  to  him  on  this  peace  question.  You  are  all  familiar 
with  it,  but  at  the  same  time  I  will  read  it.  From  Isaiah :  "The 
way  of  peace  they  know  not,  and  there  is  no  judgment  in  their 
goings.  They  have  made  them  crooked  paths.  Whosoever  goeth 
therein  shall  not  know  peace."  And  from  Romans :  "Their  throat 
is  an  open  sepulchre.  With  their  tongues  they  have  used  deceit. 
The  poison  of  asps  is  under  their  lips.  Whose  mouth  is  full  of 
cursing  and  bitterness.  Their  feet  are  swift  to  shed  blood. 
Destruction  and  misery  are  in  their  ways  and  the  way  of  peace 


OUR  COUNTRY  IN  THE  WAR  57 

have  they  not  known.  There  is  no  fear  of  God  before  their  eyes." 
From  Ezekiel:  "Destruction  cometh  and  they  shall  seek  peace 
and  there  shall  be  none." 

Yes,  we  want  peace,  of  course.  Every  one  would  like  to  have 
this  slaughter  stopped,  but  what  is  the  use  of  a  patched-up  peace 
that  will  simply  compel  us  to  go  through  this  thing  again  in  a 
few  years?  What  is  the  use  of  a  peace  unless  it  is  a  peace  of 
righteousness?  When  the  Kaiser  takes  his  bloody  hands  off 
Belgium  and  France,  it  will  be  time  enough  then  to  talk  about 
peace. 

We  have  started  out  plowing  the  furrow  that  we  will  have 
nothing  to  do  with  the  reigning  rulers  of  Germany.  You  can't 
trust  them.  They  are  not  on  the  square.  A  peace  with  them 
amounts  to  nothing.  They  care  not  for  treaties.  Their  word  is 
good  for  naught.  We  have  declared  that  we  will  do  business 
with  the  people  of  Germany  and  not  with  this  murderous  ruling 
class.  Let  us  plow jthat  furrow  straight  out  to  the  end  and  it 
will  bear  fruit. 

Peace  ?  Yes,  I  should  think  the  Kaiser  would  want  peace.  It 
has  been  suggested  that  before  the  civilized  nations  of  the  world 
make  peace  with  Germany,  that  they  turn  over  the  Kaiser  to  a  jury 
of  the  civilized  world,  to  be  tried  for  all  the  murders  and  rapes 
that  he  has  brought  to  the  world.  Would  you  sit  down  and  make 
peace  with  the  man  who  had  murdered  your  family  ?  You  might 
say,  "Oh,  it  is  going  to  cost  the  life  of  a  sheriff  or  so  to  take  the 
man,  and  so  rather  than  do  that  we  will  sit  down  and  talk  about 
peace."  No  red-blooded  man  would  do  it.  The  Kaiser  is  a  mur- 
derer, and  a  murderer  in  the  first  degree ;  and  everywhere  in  the 
world  murder  in  the  first  degree  is  punishable  by  death.  A  mil- 
lion deaths  would  not  punish  him  for  what  he  has  brought  to  the 
world,  but  there  is  only  one  death  that  can  be  administered  to  him. 

In  traveling  across  the  sea  a  few  weeks  ago,  and  witnessing 
the  terrible  submarine  peril,  I  wished  that  before  we  talked  much 
about  peace  the  Kaiser  could  be  compelled  to  traverse  the  sea  in 
an  unprotected  boat,  with  the  submarines  peppering  away  at  him 
every  now  and  then.  In  witnessing  an  air  raid  on  London,  I 
wished  that  the  Kaiser  could  be  compelled  to  stand  where  poor 
working  girls  and  women  were  compelled  to  stand,  and  let  these 
bombs  drop  all  around  him.  And  seeing  those  ruined  cities  in 
France,  I  wished  that  the  palaces  of  the  Kaiser  might  be  blown 
up  in  like  fashion.  Seeing  those  poor  boys  in  the  trenches  in  the 
cold  and  in  the  rain,  I  wished  that  he  might  be  compelled  to  stand 
there  with  the  bombs  falling  on  him  and  hand-grenades  and  ma- 
chine guns  spitting  at  him,  and  see  how  he  liked  the  ruthlessness 
that  he  had  brought  to  this  old  world.    Let  us  be  a  little  careful, 


58    ONE  HUNDRED  PER  CENT  AMERICAN 

my  friends,  about  this  peace  talk.  That  propaganda  went  through 
Italy,  and  has  been  tried  in  France.  It  will  be  tried  in  this  coun- 
try. Nothing  can  help  the  cause  of  our  enemies  more  at  this  time 
than  to  talk  about  peace.  I  don't  mean  by  that  that  we  should 
not  have  a  righteous  peace.  But  I  don't  believe  you  can  get  a 
permanent  peace  until  the  day  comes  that  we  can  substantially 
demand  the  disarmament  of  the  great  military  power  of  Germany, 
and  that  will  bring  a  permanent  peace. 

Oh  yes,  we  want  peace,  righteous  peace.  We  want  a  peace  in 
this  country  now  that  passeth  understanding.  It  is  peace  of  mind  ; 
it  is  a  peace  that  comes  from  the  rising  consciousness  of  America. 
It  is  the  peace  that  we  feel  because  we  know  that  we  are  fighting 
for  worth-while  things,  for  a  worth-while  civilization,  a  civiliza- 
tion based  upon  justice  and  not  upon  greed,  and  with  that  peace 
of  our  souls  and  our  spirits,  which  the  ruling  powers  of  Germany 
understand  not  but  will  soon  understand,  we  fight  on. 

America  knows  the  issue  in  this  war.  We  may  have  been  a 
little  while  comprehending  it,  but  we  have  it  now.  We  know, 
as  we  knew  in  '61,  that  this  nation  of  ours  could  not  be  half  slave 
and  half  free,  so  we  know  now  that  this  world  of  which  we  are  a 
part  and  cannot  escape,  cannot  be  half  cruelly  autocratic  and 
half  humanely  democratic.  The  American  people  know  that 
righteousness  must  either  rule  in  this  world,  or  ruthlessness. 
They  are  ready  to  make  the  sacrifice.  Loyalty,  sacrifice,  efficiency, 
will  win  this  war,  and  I  rejoice  that  in  this  great  duty,  hard  as  it 
is,  that  God  has  placed  upon  us,  the  American  people  are  firm. 
They  are  united ;  no  East  or  West  or  North  or  South ;  a  united 
nation,  marching  to  the  music  of  humanity ;  a  people  who  cannot 
be  beguiled  by  false  peace  projects  born  of  German  intrigue;  a 
people  determined  that  they  will  have  nothing  to  do  with  the  mur- 
derous Hohenzollern  family;  who  know  that  such  a  peace  would 
be  a  farce  to  be  broken  in  a  few  years.  That  people,  devoted 
to  peace,  with  the  highest  ideals  of  liberty  and  the  greatest  love 
of  humanity  that  any  nation  has  ever  known,  that  people  are  will- 
ing, if  necessary,  to  die  that  men  may  be  free ;  and  believing  that, 
hard  as  it  is,  with  determination  they  war  on,  their  faces  fully 
to  the  light. 

"In  the  beauty  of  the  lilies 

Christ  was  born  across  the  sea; 

With  a  glory  in  his  bosom 
That  transfigures  you  and  me. 

As  he  died  to  make  men  holy 
Let  us  die  to  make  men  free, 

While  God  is  marching  on. 

As  He  died  to  make  men  holy, 
We  must  die  to  make  men  free, 

While  God  is  marching  on." 


'WO 


f 

/ 


OUR  COUNTRY  IN  THE  WAR  59 


BY  REVEREND  S.  PARKES  CADMAN,  D.D. 


I  do  not  know  why  I  was  asked  to  come  here  and  speak,  for 
men  of  my  cloth  are  generally  sent  for  only  in  cases  of  emergency ! 
I  have  always  felt  a  rather  strongly  rooted  objection  to  ministers^ 
in  politics,  because,  as  a  rule,  they  display  the  ragged  edges  of  the,;1 
amateur.  And  again,  after  such  an  admirable  and  eloquent  ad- 
dress as  that  of  Senator  Kenyon,  I  don't  see  why  I  should  be 
brought  here  this  afternoon,  to  add  to  the  embarrassment  of  your 
riches.  It  was  said  of  a  friend  of  mine  who  was  a  speaker  of 
the  first  grade,  that  his  only  fault  was  that  his  arguments  were 
so  abundant  that  you  could  not  see  the  wood  for  the  trees,  and  I 
am  afraid  that  may  be  the  case  this  afternoon. 

I  feel  very  much  like  the  Irish  mother  who  was  asked  by  her 
son,  "Mother,  what  is  the  difference  between  hope  and  expecta- 
tion?" "Well,  Pat,"  said  she,  "I  hope  to  see  your  father  in 
Heaven,  but  I  never  expect  to  see  him  there."  What  hopes  I 
may  have  indulged  have  been  taken  captive  by  this  mighty  man 
from  the  middle  west;  what  expectations  you  may  have  had  in 
me  have  been  shriveled  up ! 

This  crisis  should  take  us  out  of  our  usual  being,  and  if  it  has 
not  done  this,  we  are  still  living  on  the  surface  and  in  an  im- 
poverished way.  Even  those  emotional  displays  which  I  have 
seen  this  afternoon  may  be  nothing  more  than  sporadic  senti- 
mentality, the  last  result  of  which  is  demoralization.  You  cannot 
play  fast  and  loose  with  great  virtues.  If  you  do  not  accept  them 
seriously,  they  are  prone  to  become  devouring  flames. 

There  is  in  a  country  likp  our  own  a  tendency, — and  this  springs 
both  from  its  past  and  from  its  temperament — -a  constitutional 
tendency  towards  an  irrational  optimism,  which  should  be  cor- 
rected, even  if  by  our  enemies.  For  the  last  forty  years  some  of 
the  best  brains  of  Europe  have  been  polluting  themselves  in  per- 
petrating this  tragedy  on  the  race,  and  they  have  now  done  it  with 
a  thoroughness  which  leaves  little  to  be  desired  on  the  part  of  the 
forces  of  evil  and  anarchy.  I  have  often  wondered  how  long  we 
should  suffer  from  those  penis  of  peace,  which  are  not  less  re- 
nowned, if  you  rightly  undersTahoTtirem,  than  are  the  perils  of 
war.  The  gradual  reduction  of  the  essentials  of  manhood;  the 
weakening  spirit  of  compromise ;  the  attempt  to  make  settlements 
of  situations  by  minimizing  their  moral  issues  or  camouflaging 
them  with  false  names ;  the  worship  of  the  god  of  comfort,  and  the 
keeping  of  conscience  as  a  pet  cat  by  the  fireside  instead  of  as  a 
useful  animal  chasing  the  vermin  out  of  the  cellar,  are  enervating 


60    ONE  HUNDRED  PER  CENT  AMERICAN 

pursuits  for  the  children  of  democracy.  And  what  is  more, — I  am 
not  asking  here  for  the  impossible  out  of  human  clay,  since  we 
cannot  evoke  the  impossible — it  is  very  seldom  that  you  find  a  man 
whose  life  center  is  not  selfish.  Even  so  lofty  a  genius  as  that 
of  Lincoln  who  was,  by  all  odds,  the  greatest  spirit  that  has  been 
produced  on  this  continent,  had  its  flaws ;  and  what  he  might  have 
been  but  for  the  baptism  of  his  early  years  of  discipline,  none 
of  us  can  foresee.  The  Civil  War  created  what  I  may  call  the 
virtuous  element  of  your  own  party,  which  after  the  war,  was 
in  peril  of  falling  asunder  for  lack  of  vital  principles  to  give  it 
steering  gear,  and  that  is  true  of  all  parties,  more  or  less,  and 
will  always  be  true. 
*p  When  Socrates,  a  great  authority,  asserted  that  knowledge 
was  virtue,  he  said  what  was  not  true.  If  it  were  true,  there 
would  be  transformations,  not  only  at  Washington,  but  every- 
where. It  is  not  for  lack  of  knowledge  that  nations  perish ;  it  is 
for  lack  of  strength  to  realize  the  ideals  which  they  fully 
recognize.  So  history  teaches,  and  so  it  seems  to  me  will  ever 
be  the  case.  It  is  not  a  question  of  money  winning  the  war,  al- 
though I  freely  concede  to  you  the  importance  of  it.  If  money 
would  win  the  war,  we  could  safely  leave  it  to  our  financial 
princes. 

If  mere  intellectualism  would  win  this  war,  I  undertake  to 
say  to  you  there  is  enough  of  it  concentrated  in  the  thousands  of 
our  intellectual  giants  to  prove  invincible.  But,  gentlemen, 
neither  money  nor  intellectualism,  in  the  last  analysis,  is  sufficient 
to  guide  this  war  to  victory,  or  dictate  the  terms  of  peace.  What 
I  regret  in  publicists  and  statesmen  is  that  they  do  not  reflect 
on  this  situation.  They  are  always  too  mundane,  afraid  of  the 
altitudes.  Their  lungs  seem  incapable  of  standing  the  pressure 
of  the  higher  atmospheres. 

If  you  believe  in  God  at  all  you  must  realize  that  He  is  in  this 
war,  and  that  this  is  not  a  rogue-proof  or  a  fool-proof  universe 
in  which  you  can  violate  the  sovereign  dictates  Revelation  has 
made  known  to  men,  and  then  escape  the  inevitable  consequence. 
Whenever  a  historian  sits  down  to  write  the  story  of  a  war  like 
this  he  is  bound  to  take  the  longitudinal  view.  He  looks  behind 
the  Kaiser  and  behind  the  present  staff  which  probably  has  been 
ruling  the  Kaiser,  and  if  he  has  foresight,  he  sees  professors  in 
their  classrooms,  ministers  in  their  pulpits,  and  graduates  in  their 
studies,  mapping  out  this  course  of  criminality  and  barbarism. 

That  is  where  the  importance  of  my  calling  comes  in  for  good 
or  evil.  It  always  comes  in  for  good,  gentlemen,  if  a  man  has  the 
power  to  elevate  it  to  a  true  prophecy  of  God's  will.  When  every 
other  man  has  finished ;  when  even  the  doctor  has  done  his  worst, 


OUR  COUNTRY  IN  THE  WAR  61 

then  we  appear,  and  what  could  one  do  better  than  go  back  to  the 
great  preachers  of  Israel  of  three  thousand  years  ago?  We  are 
thrown  back  upon  them  by  sheer  necessity  of  the  basic  wisdom 
which  yet  proclaims  the  Jehovah  of  all  righteousness  to  Whom 
our  fathers  in  the  day  of  their  extremity  appealed,  and  did  not 
appeal  in  vain. 

That  being  granted,  let  me  add  another  thought  which  is  this : 
that  we  have  been  mistaken  in  the  past,  and  very  much  so,  by 
placing  our  emphasis  upon  the  extensive  aspects  of  any  policy. 
Bulk  is  no  criterion  of  quality,  and  we  have  been  led  astray 
by  its  vulgarity.  If  there  is  any  word  in  the  English  language 
which  I  would  give  well  earned  vacation,  it  is  the  word  "great," 
that  India-rubber  term  which  means  a  different  thing  in 
every  man's  mouth,  and  is  so  difficult  to  define  and  so  easy  to 
apply.  The  historian  has  little  to  do  but  withdraw  it  from  most 
things  and  men  to  whom  it  has  been  applied  in  the  past  and  give 
it  a  new  setting  in  men  and  things.  There  is  no  use  in  your  rear- 
ing statues  in  the  market  place  for  parochial  heroes  who  perish 
speedily.  Time  always  tears  them  down.  And  so  it  is  with  ficti- 
tious greatness  in  this  world.  If  it  is  mere  size  and  wealth  which 
makes  a  country  invincible  in  the  day  of  battle,  why  did  Athens 
conquer  Persia  when  she  was  not  as  big  as  Jersey  City,  and  give 
us  Pericles,  and  Demosthenes  and  Socrates  and  a  hundred  others 
whose  names  shine  forever  ? 

I  do  not  hesitate  to  say  that  if  Germany  were  taken  out  of 
this  alliance  opposed  to  us,  the  rest  would  roll  up  like  tissue  paper 
in  three  months.  Germany's  strength  does  not  exist  in  her  seventy 
million,  nor  in  her  Kaiserdom.  Germany's  strength  consists  in 
the  wide  and  deep  conviction  of  a  national  purpose  and  the  con- 
sciousness, which,  however  mistaken  it  may  be,  has  all  the  inten- 
sity of  a  zealot;  not  to  recognize  this  is  to  go  against  an  enemy 
underestimating  him,  and  he  who  underestimates  his  enemy  is 
liable  to  be  rudely  awakened  from  his  dreams. 

What  is  the  case  with  those  who  are  aligned  upon  our  side? 
There  is  a  residual  saving  element  in  Britain,  and  a  very  great  ele- 
ment— in  fact,  I  speak  from  the  card  when  I  tell  you  that  Britain, 
no  less  resolute  than  ourselves,  will  never  relinquish  this  business 
until  the  rape  of  Belgium  is  redeemed.  France,  as  the  princess 
of  Latin  civilization,  so  different  and  so  much  more  beautiful  than 
our  own,  has  her  deserved  place  she  will  occupy  among  the  pre- 
mier nations  of  mankind,  without  any  further  interference  from 
that  gross  and  wanton  brutality  which  has  always  characterized 
the  Teutonic  type,  whether  in  this  present  city  of  ours  or  else- 
where on  the  face  of  the  earth. 

For  nations,  gentlemen,  are  like  a  symphony,  and  as  you 


62         ONE  HUNDRED  PER  CENT  AMERICAN 

know,  every  instrument  blends  in  the  interweaving  and  cor- 
relations of  the  music.  God  made  them  differently,  but  He  in- 
tended that  their  unison  should  produce  a  symphony  of  praise 
and  service,  not  because  all  are  alike,  a  dreadful  monotony,  but 
because  they  do  differ  just  as  different  notes  on  an  instrument 
differ  and  yet  together  strike  the  same  chord. 

What  party  on  earth  has  ever  identified  itself  with  that  prin- 
ciple more  completely  than  has  the  Republican  Party  which  was 
the  backbone  of  the  resistance  in  this  nation  to  undue  discrimina- 
tion against  a  different  race  from  that  of  the  white  man?  You 
professed  and  believed  and  still  believe  that  the  fact  of  a  man's 
freedom  should  not  depend  on  the  color  of  his  skin  or  where  he 
was  born  under  the  heavens  of  God. 

In  Britain  to-day  there  has  been  a  fixed  resolution.  She  has 
never  been  able  to  secure  the  favorable  verdict  of  Americans, 
simply  for  lack  of  manners.  To  be  perfectly  frank,  that  has 
been  the  standing  trouble,  a  lack  of  manners.  If  I  were  to  hint 
that  the  lack  has  not  been  all  on  one  side,  I  should  be  just  to  the 
situation.  And  yet,  gentlemen,  a  sense  of  solemn  glory  environs 
us  like  an  atmosphere  when  we  reflect  upon  the  past  of  Britain. 
From  Alfred  the  Great  £o  the  present  ruler,  can  you  find  anything 
in  the  history  of  mankind  comparable  with  the  story  of  this  little 
island?  If  Germany's  hopes  were  fulfilled  and  there  was  nothing 
left  of  Britain;  if  she  were  completely  swallowed  up  in  the  sea 
and  the  keels  of  a  victorious  German  fleet  moved  through  the 
ocean  which  rolled  over  what  was  once  Britain,  you  could  never, 
in  the  spiritual  evolution  of  the  race,  destroy  the  vast  and  ever 
accumulating  contribution  which  men  like  Shakespeare  and  John 
Milton  and  Newton  and  Pitt  and  a  thousand  other  heroes  of  Eng- 
land have  made  to  the  advancement  and  the  blessing  of  man- 
kind. 

I  get  letters  occasionally  from  a  highly  placed  official  on  the 
other  side,  and  I  think  I  know  somewhat  of  the  inner  mind, 
not  only  of  the  rulers  of  Britain,  which  is  very  important,  but 
of  her  working  man,  which  is  far  more  important  at  the  present 
stage  of  the  game.  Let  me  tell  you  that  the  same  convictions 
which  have  thrilled  this  audience  to-day  are  to  be  found  in  the 
minds  of  the  men  and  women  on  the  other  side,  irrespective  of 
rank  or  condition.  You  will  find  them  in  Ireland  also,  which  has 
contributed  a  hundred  and  fifty  thousand  men  to  the  ranks  of 
those  who  are  fighting  in  the  front  trenches  in  Flanders. 

Wherein  are  we  weakest?  Simply  in  the  fact  that  we  are 
separated.  Not  because  we  are  geographically  separated,  for  east 
and  west  or  middle  west  make  no  difference.  My  brother  is  my 
brother,  though  at  the  farthest  pole.    How  are  we  brothers  ?    Not 


OUR  COUNTRY  IN  THE  WAR  63 

by  measurement,  nor  even  by  consanguinity  of  blood,  but  by 
identity  of  ideals.    That  is  what  makes  brotherhood. 

Let  me  say  in  preface  to  that,  that  there  is  no  necessary  virtue 
in  democracy,  except  what  you  put  in  it.  It  has  no  divine  right, 
except  as  we  make  it  to  be  of  the  divine.  We  sometimes  speak 
of  it  with  bated  breath,  as  though  the  word  had  a  hereditary  force. 
Not  at  all.  It  is  the  breasts  of  free  men  which  make  the  strength 
of  democracy,  and  unless  it  is  farsighted,  moral,  sagacious,  it  will 
be  crushed  in  the  present  emergency.  It  does  not  travel  by  its  own 
motion.  So  let  us  dismiss  delusions  about  democracy ;  let  us  cease 
speaking  of  it  as  though  it  were  something  in  itself  of  royal 
privilege.  And  then  as  to  its  righteousness,  has  there  been  the 
exploitation  of  foreign  aliens?  I  don't  wish  to  plead  for  mere 
parochialism,  for  I  am  an  immigrant  myself,  and  assuredly  I  have  voJ4***^ 
no  desire  to  "shut  the  gates  of  mercy  on  mankind."  But  so  far  asp  ; 
the  doors  of  this  country  are  concerned,  we  have  too  often  taken 
them  off  the  hinges,  too  often  for  solely  economic  and  selfish 
reasons.  There  is  a  justice  which  holds  the  scales  of  the  nations 
with  unfaltering  hands.  It  never  for  a  moment  varies  from  its 
great  motions.  And  those  which  vary  from  it,  even  though  they 
are  called  wise,  are  really  beating  the  air. 

The  Bismarckian  policy  of  blood  and  iron  and  might  on  the 
other  side  as  contrasted  with  the  policy  of  Gladstone  were  policies 
the  relative  merits  of  which  we  used  fiercely  to  argue  when  I  was 
a  student.  Gladstone,  with  all  his  drawbacks,  was  yet  able  to 
democratize  an  empire  and  helped  to  create  a  united  Italy  and  a 
free  Greece,  yet  notwithstanding,  the  critics  of  the  moment  poured 
scorn  on  Gladstone.  Now  this  doctrine  of  Bismarck  is  toppling 
over,  and  the  empire  he  built  with  the  sword  has  aroused  the 
wrath  of  every  liberty-loving  man  throughout  the  world. 

So  far  as  our  democracy  is  concerned,  it  does  not  pay  to  make 
short  cuts  to  mercenary  ends  at  the  expense  of  justice  and  of 
right,  since  men  always  come  back  from  an  interview  with  God's 
justice  severely  mulcted  if  they  are  in  the  opposition.    I  am  simply 
one  of  His  ambassadors,  sustained  by  your  generosity,  but  I  trust 
I  am  one  of  His  ambassadors,  and  as  such,  I  urge  that  true  ex- 
pediency considers  first  His  laws. 
/        There  is  a  time  in  the  history  of  men  and  nations  when  we 
have  to  speak  the  word  of  prophecy  or  perish  by  the  way.    In 
this  dearly  loved  land  of  ours,  baptized  in  the  blood  of  the  fathers ; 
and  where  men  once  dwelt  with  high  visions  of  everlasting  issues, 
/  you  have  the  lotus  lover,  who,  at  the  very  thought  of  sacrifice, 
^  shivers  in  his  soul.    So  there  comes  to  him  and  to  all,  the  stern 
regimen  of  war.    It  finds  that,  instead  of  being  the  "melting  pot," 
we  are  in  danger  of  becoming  a  garbage  pail.    There  are  a  great 


64    ONE  HUNDRED  PER  CENT  AMERICAN 

many  unredeemed  portions  at  the  bottom  of  that  famous  pot  yet. 
Thank  God!  there  are  not  so  many  as  there  were  some  months 

I  remember  some  years  ago  meeting  a  titled  personage.  It  is 
not  often  you  meet  a  senator  or  a  duke.  The  Senator  replies 
that  he  has  met  no  dukes.  Well,  I  have  met  a  noble  on  the  other 
side,  and  he  said  to  me  with  some  emphasis,  "Doctor  Cadman, 
how  much  longer  are  you  going  to  take  the  risks  of  democracy?" 
Said  I,  "Just  as  long  as  you  take  the  risks  of  aristocracy."  Said 
he,  "What  do  you  mean  ?"  "Well,"  said  I,  "you  suck  the  orange 
at  one  end  and  we  suck  it  at  wherever  there  is  juice.  We  often 
register  folly  in  our  votes,  and  the  intelligent  American  never  puts 
too  much  faith  in  a  majority,  even  though  he  may  greatly  desire 
it  for  personal  and  political  reasons.  But  when  everything  has 
been  said  and  done,  we  prefer  our  position  and  its  risks  to  those 
of  autocratic  and  monopolistic  government."  Said  he,  "You 
don't  really  believe  in  democracy  in  America."  "Why  not?"  said 
I.  "Well,"  said  he,  "there  are  people  in  New  York  who  will 
marry  their  daughters  to  anybody  with  a  title."  Said  I,  "They 
are  not  Americans."  "Yes,"  said  he,  "they  are  Americans,  they 
were  born  here."  "Oh,  no,"  said  I,  "they  are  not  Americans 
simply  because  they  were  born  here,  any  more  than  kittens  are 
biscuits  just  because  they  happen  to  be  born  in  the  oven."  "Well," 
said  the  duke,  at  last,  "what  is  an  American  ?"  "America,"  I  re- 
plied, "is  a  big  boiling  pot  of  human  experiment  in  which  have 
been  precipitated  thirty  million  who  would  not  let  you  people 
govern  them  or  whom  you  could  not  govern.  When  the  scum 
comes  to  the  top  we  throw  that  back  to  you  and  the  residuum 
goes  on  boiling  and  bubbling." 

And  yet,  as  you  very  well  know,  it  is  difficult  for 
us  to  create  a  common  consciousness  at  any  time,  and  I  speak 
with  all  sympathy  for  those  who  hark  back  to  the  German  Father- 
land of  happier  days. 

There  are  many  here  who  love  music  and  love  philosophy  and 
the  enterprises  of  the  human  mind  that  give  it  dignity,  who  do  not 
for  a  moment  ignore  the  debt  we  owe  to  the  Germany  of  the  past. 
And  when  you  find  among  the  men  of  German  descent  those  who 
are  hostile  to  the  Germany  of  to-day,  those  who  desire  to  make 
our  principles  theirs  and  by  them  live  and  die,  they  are  worthy 
of  double  honor.  There  has  been  considerable  progress  in  that 
direction  since  we  first  began  our  mission,  that  is,  from  April 
first  of  last  year,  and  during  that  time  I  have  had  the  pleasure 
of  addressing  audiences  in  not  less  than  sixteen  different  States, 
and  sometimes,  in  the  case  of  soldiers,  audiences  numbering 
thousands,  and  I  have  found  everywhere  a  response  to  the  leader- 


OUR  COUNTRY  IN  THE  WAR  05 

ship  which  is  being  given  to  our  people  by  President  Wilson's 
unequalled  addresses,  and  by  the  magnificent  addresses  of  Mr. 
Root,  who  speaks  all  too  little  for  the  good  of  the  United  States. 
The  sterling  manhood  and  foresightedness  of  Colonel  Roosevelt 
have  been  of  great  assistance  to  us  in  this  time. 

You  have  heard  in  the  case  of  Senator  Kenyon  what  is  the 
voice  of  the  Middle  West,  and  you  have  heard  from  our  own 
Senator  Calder  as  to  the  voice  of  this  great  State  and  city. 

So  far  as  the  pacifism  is  concerned  with  which  my  calling  is\  f  kC)*\ 
so  often  confused,  let  me  tell  you  that  it  never  represented  the 
clergy  of  any  church  or  denomination.    I  know  at  least  five  thou- 
sand rabbis  and  priests  and  ministers  who  never  recognize  the 
proposition  that  "democracy  cannot  be  safe  unless  it  is  helpless." 

We  have  had  men  in  high  places  in  this  country,  who  should 
have  known  better,  spouting  out  cheap  axioms,  showing  they  have 
never  mastered  the  first  principles  of  governmental  statesmanship. 
What  has  saved  us  from  the  mistakes  of  these  men?  The  great 
hand  of  directing  God  and  His  sword,  bathed  in  the  light  of 
Heaven.  That  takes  the  superfluities  out  of  the  social  system,  the 
wanton  waste,  the  wickedness  and  excess,  the  cant  of  the  law, 
and  all  else  of  naughty  superfluity,  these  disappear  when  you 
come  into  the  presence  of  His  everlasting  judgment.  That  is 
where  we  now  stand.  We  are  not  so  anxious  to  claim  God  on 
our  side,  as  to  be  on  His  side,  until  He  shall  bring  forth  His 
verdict. 


THREE:     PHILIP  MARSHALL  BROWN 

Professor  of  International  Law  at  the  University  of  Princeton 

I  hesitate  to  break  the  spell  of  what  we  have  just  listened 
to.  We  have  had  the  depths  of  wisdom,  the  heights  of  eloquence 
and  the  breadth  of  view  which,  I  am  sure,  have  stimulated  us  all 
— I  know  in  my  case,  almost  too  much.  The  emotion  that  has 
been  stirred  in  us  is  such  that  I  think  most  of  us  would  prefer 
to  go  away  quietly  and  think  a  while. 

I  appreciate  greatly  the  honor  of  being  invited  to  this  club. 
I  have  appreciated  the  privilege  of  being  here  this  afternoon. 
I  realize  the  truth  of  the  statement  that  Mr.  John  Bassett  Moore 
made  to  me  several  years  ago,  two  years  ago  at  least,  when  he  said 
that  one  of  the  greatest  privileges  that  he  had  was  when  he  was 
invited  to  come  here  and  address  this  club. 

If  you  were  to  ask  for  an  authority  on  international  law,  I 
should,  without  hesitation,  ask  you  to  listen  again  to  that  great 
leader  of  that  subject  in  this  country. 


66         ONE  HUNDRED  PER  CENT  AMERICAN 

I  had  it  in  mind  to  speak  somewhat  on  the  subject  of  inter- 
national law  this  afternoon.  I  think  possibly  I  might  differ  with 
some  of  you  as  to  the  nature  of  its  functions.  I  am  prepared, 
however,  to  admit,  for  one,  that  international  law  has  been  dis- 
credited in  part  by  its  enemies,  but  I  think  it  has  been  discredited 
more  by  its  friends  than  by  its  enemies.  I  think  it  has  not  been 
stated  in  terms  which  were  applicable  to  actual  conditions.  It  has 
been  presented  rather  as  a  code  of  morality  than  as  a  system  of  law 
destined  to  protect  interests,  and  this  war  has  certainly  showed 
us  that  we  must  all  of  us  attempt  to  make  certain  adjustments  in 
our  ideas,  and  I,  for  one,  in  a  very  humble  capacity,  I  assure  you, 
shall  be  doing  my  best  to  make  those  adjustments. 

I  do  not  share  the  idea  that  it  is  the  function  of  international 
law  to  regulate  war.  Some  people  seem  to  have  that  idea,  that 
international  law  has  broken  down  at  this  time.  It  never  was  in- 
tended to  regulate  war,  as  you  regulate  the  contest  of  a  football 
game  or  a  boxing  match.  The  true  purpose  of  international  law, 
gentlemen,  is  to  regulate  the  peaceful  relations  of  states,  and  as  to 
those  functions  which  you  hear  so  much  about,  may  I  call  your 
attention  simply  to  one  fact  which  is  so  often  ignored,  that  inter- 
national law  is  not  like  ordinary  law.  It  does  not  pretend  to  be. 
Why  confuse  different  laws?  International  law  is,  in  itself,  a 
different  kind  of  law,  as  the  law  which  prevails  between  individ- 
uals differs  from  the  law  that  prevails  between  groups  and 
corporations.  It  operates  in  different  ways.  And  may  I  sug- 
gest to  you  that  its  sense,  its  great,  fundamental  sense,  which  is 
ignored  often,  is  the  desire  for  reciprocity  and  the  fear  of  retalia- 
tion. 

In  ordinary  times  of  peace,  international  law  is  observed  with- 
out question  in  the  intercourse  of  nations  and  diplomacy.  We 
do  not  know  all  the  successes  of  diplomacy.  Mr.  Hay  once  re- 
marked that  in  diplomacy  as  in  love,  a  man  was  not  entitled  to 
boast  of  his  successes.  And  yet  diplomacy  has  its  great  successes 
in  normal  times,  and  the  difficulties  and  frictions  that  are  over- 
come by  diplomacy,  few  outside  ever  realize. 

The  great  driving  power  behind  international  law  is,  I  be- 
lieve, this  realization,  which  is,  of  course,  expressed  in  finer 
terms  in  the  Golden  Rule,  which,  after  all,  is  a  utilitarian  rule  that 
if  a  nation  does  not  do  these  things  by  another  nation  it  will  not 
receive  the  benefits  from  that  nation  that  might  be  derived  by  their 
observance.  Or  worse  still,  the  spirit  of  retaliation  may  be 
roused. 

And  when  we  speak  of  the  breakdown  of  Christianity  or  of 
international  law,  let  us  remind  ourselves  of  this  simple,  practical 
fact  that  twenty  nations  of  the  world,  representing  practically 


OUR  COUNTRY  IN  THE  WAR  67) 

four-fifths  of  the  world,  are  united  together  in  defense  of  inter- 
national law.  I  would  like  to  speak  more  directly  to  the  point 
which  was  touched  upon  so  wonderfully  by  Senator  Kenyon,  the 
statement  of  Stephen  Decatur,  when  he  said  in  that  toast  of  his : 
"Our  country,  in  her  intercourse  with  foreign  nations  may  she 
always  be  right,  but  our  country,  right  or  wrong." 

Before  I  plunge  into  this,  may  I  say  a  personal  word?  I  have 
as  you  know,  the  great  privilege  of  being  in  contact  with  the  stu- 
dents of  a  great  university.  Since  this  war  began  I  have  en- 
deavored in  my  own  way,  from  the  start,  without  equivocation, 
without  any  attempt  to  be  academic,  or  even  judicially-minded,  to 
maintain  before  my  students  the  necessity  of  the  United  States 
abandoning  its  impossible  role  of  neutrality  and  of  doing  its  duty 
as  a  good  international  citizen.  It  seemed  to  me  to  be  mere 
pedantry  for  a  professor  at  such  a  time  to  teach  international  law 
without  referring  to  the  fact  that  international  law  would  cease 
to  exist  if  Germany,  by  any  chance,  had  been  permitted  to 
triumph ;  and  more  than  that,  it  has  seemed  to  me  that  since  we 
got  into  the  war,  it  is  no  longer  a  time  for  academic  discussion. 
The  proposition  before  us  is  essentially  a  military  proposition, 
and  I,  for  one,  yielding  to  the  feeling  which  I  know  animates 
every  one  of  your  gentlemen  here,  could  not  resist  the  urge  any 
longer,  and  I  am  abandoning  my  work  as  a  teacher  to  go  across 
to  the  other  side  and  do  the  immediate  thing  that  I  can,  to  get  as 
near  the  trenches  as  I  can,  because  I  think  that  is  the  only  way 
I  can  square  my  own  conscience.  When  I  have  seen  these  young 
men  going  out  from  Princeton,  among  them  a  young  nephew  of 
Senator  Kenyon's,  a  brilliant  student,  who  is  now  out  flying  for 
his  country,  I  feel  it  is  my  duty  to  go  too.  And  I  say  this  by  way 
of  apology,  because  this  is  my  last  opportunity  to  say  one  or  two 
things  in  public  that  have  been  on  my  mind,  as  it  seems  to  me 
that  this  is  purely  a  question  of  winning  out  in  this  war.  It 
is  not  a  thing  for  discussion.  I  am  not  privileged  to  go  into 
the  firing  line.  I  am  only  going  to  help  out  in  the  Army  Y.  M. 
C.  A.  in  Egypt  and  Palestine,  but  I  hope  to  God,  if  the  war  con- 
tinues, that  I  may  have  my  privilege  to  bear  an  arm  yet. 

A  German-American  friend  of  mine  once  said  to  me,  "I  never 
will  subscribe  to  that  doctrine 'Our  country,  right  or  wrong' ;  never, 
never.  I  shall  reserve  to  myself  the  right  of  saying  whether  I 
will  support  my  country."  That  was  before  we  went  to  war.  I 
am  pleased  to  state  that  this  German-American  is  one  of  the 
most  loyal  supporters  of  this  country  at  this  present  moment, 
and  why  ?  Because  he  discovered  that  this  thing  is  absolutely  true : 
There  can  be  no  such  thing  as  a  divided  allegiance.  It  is  a  case 
of  your  country,  right  or  wrong.    In  the  oath  of  citizenship  you 


68    ONE  HUNDRED  PER  CENT  AMERICAN 

will  find  these  phrases  "I  declare  on  oath  that  I  will  support  the 
Constitution  and  laws  of  the  United  States  of  America,  against 
all  enemies,  foreign  or  domestic,  and  that  I  will  bear  true  faith 
and  allegiance  to  the  same."  Decatur  interpreted  that  in  general 
as  well  as  in  a  specific  way.  Benedict  Arnold  interpreted  it  in 
another  way.  If  we  are  to  believe  the  narrative  that  is  set  forth 
in  that  extremely  interesting  book  by  Ambassador  Stimson,  to 
the  Argentine  Republic,  Arnold  got  himself  into  this  state  of  mind 
through  supposing  that  half  of  England  was  willing  to  make 
peace  with  us  on  generous  terms;  that  the  original  controversy 
we  had  with  her  was  settled  and  that  he  would  be  rendering  a 
great  service  to  the  cause  of  England  and  the  United  States  if  he 
would  perform  his  dastardly  deed.  It  seems  to  me  there  are 
near-traitors  in  this  country  at  present.  They  are  the  people 
who  have  never  accepted  the  verdict  of  their  fellow-countrymen 
and  who  are  now  arguing  in  every  way  in  their  power  for  a  spe- 
cial form  of  peace.  There  is  a  certain  periodical  that  appears 
weekly  which  every  now  and  then  runs  along  that  line.  They  are 
like  that  kind  of  man  who  is  a  member  of  a  corporation  and  when 
he  has  been  voted  down,  goes  out  and  tries  to  defeat  the  corpora- 
tion every  way  he  can.  We  have  in  our  midst,  I  fear,  a  large 
number  of  such  people  who,  without  realizing  the  danger,  think 
that  it  would  be  a  good  thing  to  make  peace  at  this  time. 

Then,  there  is  the  internationalist  in  our  midst,  and  there  are 
many  such,  in  my  humble  opinion.  The  I.  W.  W.  is,  of  course, 
the  most  pronounced.  There  is  another  type  of  idealist  too.  You 
have  met  them;  I  have  met  them;  represented  by  such  men  as 
Edward  Steiner,  who  has  contributed  so  much  to  us,  a  man  who 
has  such  vague  ideas  of  international  brotherhood  that  he  never 
has  been  able  to  find  a  definite  attachment  with  any  one  of  them. 
Some  of  them  preach  that  we  must  first  be  loyal  to  this  great 
brotherhood  of  man.  They  seem  to  be  incapable  of  realizing  that 
you  can't  trust  a  man  to  be  loyal  to  a  vague  ideal  who  isn't  true 
to  his  own  community.  These  men  are  men  "without  a  country ;" 
incapable  muddlers  in  a  way;  men  who  have  not  that  sense  of 
deep  personal  devotion  and  attachment  to  their  own  nation. 

But  there  may  be  men  with  two  countries,  as  Senator  Kenyon 
has  pointed  out.  And  Switzerland,  of  course,  is  an  example.  It  is 
possible  to  vote  here  and  to  vote  in  Switzerland.  It  doesn't  mat- 
ter. The  Swiss  Republic  permits  it  and  we  permit  it.  And  men 
can  vote  in  this  country  for  President  of  the  United  States  and 
not  be  a  citizen  of  this  country.  According  to  the  German  Law 
of  1913,  citizenship  is  not  lost  by  one  who,  before  acquiring  for- 
eign citizenship,  has  secured,  on  application,  the  written  consent 
of  the  competent  authorities  to  retain  his  citizenship.     Before 


OUR  COUNTRY  IN  THE  WAR  69 

this  consent  can  be  given,  the  German  Consul  should  be  heard. 
Surely,  the  significance  of  this  is  not  lost  on  you.  When  it  was 
first  introduced  in  the  Reichstag,  they  were  frank  enough  to  say 
that  it  was  meant  to  hold  the  Germans  all  over  the  globe,  and  it 
was  intended  to  be  a  reward  for  those  who  served  the  German 
Government,  wherever  they  might  be  found. 

That  is  one  thing  that  has  got  to  be  straightened  out  when  we 
come  to  terms  of  peace.  Such  a  law  as  that  must  not  be  per- 
mitted to  go  unchallenged.  You  know,  of  course,  that  the  Ger- 
mans have  claimed  that  there  were  as  high  as  thirty  million  of 
German  blood  or  the  descendants  of  German  blood  in  this  coun- 
try. The  German-American  Alliance  claims  to  reach  at  least  two 
million  five  hundred  thousand  persons.  There  are  six  hundred 
German-American  papers.  We  know  of  the  intrigues,  the  tele- 
grams, for  example,  which  last  April  poured  into  the  Capital, 
five  hundred  thousand  telegrams  which  I  believe  followed  any  one 
of  eight  different  forms,  protesting  against  our  going  to  war. 
We  know  of  Count  von  BernstorfFs  "slush  fund."  We  know 
of  von  Papen's  activities  and  his  reference  to  the  "idiotic  Ameri- 
cans," and  I  think  one  of  the  finest  things  was  what  Gerard  said 
when  the  Minister  of  Foreign  Affairs  in  Berlin  reminded  him 
that  in  case  of  trouble  there  were  five  hundred  thousand  German 
Reservists  in  America,  and  Gerard  reminded  him  that  there  were 
also  five  hundred  and  one  thousand  lamp-posts. 

I  do  not  attempt  to  charge  the  German-Americans  with  still 
carrying  on  this  insidious  work.  I  presume  the  authorities  at 
Washington  have  taken  care  of  that;  but  I  do  wish  to  call  your 
attention  to  this  fact,  that  part  of  this  extreme  scheme  of  Ger- 
many's was  to  get  a  hold  on  the  vitals  of  this  nation. 

Then  I  want  to  call  your  attention  to  another  type.  I  want  to 
speak  now  of  the  intellectual  anarchist,  and  perhaps  I  am  privi- 
leged to  know  Something  about  him,  being  in  that  business.  But 
I  want  to  call  your  attention  to  the  fact  that  in  this  country  ex- 
treme individualism  has  had  full  play  to  such  an  extent  that  we 
are  reaping  now  some  unfortunate  fruits. 

There  is  an  academic  attitude  throughout  the  land  towards 
vital  problems  which  I  think  is  unworthy  of  all  who  profess  to 
be  leaders  of  thought.  We  have  had  a  great  deal  of  intellectual 
gymnastics,  a  great  deal  too  much.  You  have  seen  it  in  the  law. 
You  know  with  what  ease  an  able  lawyer  can  make  black  look 
white.  You  know  how  in  philosophy  the  philosophers  are  still 
playing  the  old  game  that  was  played  two  thousand  years  ago, 
of  toying  with  the  intellectual  processes,  of  showing  that  by  di- 
viding the  distance  between  two  points  and  keeping  on  dividing 
it,  you  never  arrive  at  the  point.    We  have  had  it  in  religion.    We 


70    ONE  HUNDRED  PER  CENT  AMERICAN 

have  had  the  intellectual  approach  to  religion,  not  getting  one 
anywhere.  We  have  had  the  pacifist  propaganda.  Our  peace  men 
have  taught  us  that  wars  never  paid.  We  have  had  the  chief 
apostle  of  that  doctrine,  Norman  Angell,  still  writing  vigorously 
in  the  present  year,  that  there  never  had  been  a  dishonorable 
peace  or  an  honorable  war.  We  have  been  told  that  preparedness 
brought  on  war;  that  the  existence  of  a  fire  department  created 
more  fires.  We  have  had  a  great  deal  of  this  which,  it  seems  to 
me,  can  only  be  characterized  as  sophistry.  It  is  intellectual  leger- 
demain. It  has  been  going  on  until  our  young  men  have  lost  their 
sense  of  values,  the  difference  between  right  and  wrong,  the 
practical  things  of  everyday  life.  They  have  been  taught  that 
everything  could  be  treated  from  a  purely  intellectual  standpoint. 

Now  we  have  the  demand  for  freedom  of  speech.  "Freedom" 
is  a  great  word  to  conjure  with.  A  great  deal  has  been  said  about 
the  freedom  of  the  seas.  I  am  unable  to  understand  what  is 
meant  by  "freedom  of  the  seas."  As  far  as  freedom  of  speech  is 
concerned,  you  can  reduce  it  to  absurdity  at  once  by  saying  that 
no  man  is  free  to  say  what  he  pleases  when  he  pleases. 

Democracy  never  shows  itself,  in  my  opinion,  so  great  as 
when  it  puts  restrictions  on  itself.  They  talk  about  being  "Prus- 
sianized" in  times  of  war.  When  democracy  chooses,  for  the  suc- 
cessful prosecution  of  this  war,  to  put  a  curb  on  the  freedom  of 
speech,  it  seems  to  me  it  is  demonstrating  its  greatness.  I  think 
it  is  most  unfortunate  that  the  issue  of  freedom  of  speech  should 
have  been  raised  in  the  colleges  and  universities.  I  think,  as  a 
rule,  there  is  a  vast  freedom  of  speech  in  the  colleges  and  uni- 
versities. I  cannot  quite  sympathize  with  President  Lowell  in 
that  regard.  I  would  say,  on  the  contrary,  that  the  college  pro- 
fessor is  under  a  particular  obligation  as  to  what  he  says  in  public 
and  how  he  says  it. 

You  men  who  are  sending  your  sons  to  college  have  a  perfect 
right  to  demand  that  college  professors  should  be  extremely  care- 
ful as  to  what  they  say  in  public  or  in  the  classroom,  for  that 
matter.  There  are  decided  limitations  on  freedom  of  speech  in 
times  of  war.  There  are  home  trenches  as  well  as  trenches  in 
France.  We  have  our  own  trenches  to  defend  and  protect  over 
here,  and  when  any  man  claims  the  privilege  of  talking  near- 
sedition  or  real  sedition,  sedition  which  cannot  be  reached  by  the 
law,  it  seems  to  me  that  no  one  that  ever  criticizes  a  great  liberty- 
loving  people  like  ours  should  be  surprised  if  we  at  times  lose  pa- 
tience and  say  "That  is  enough  of  this.  This  is  a  question  of 
decency,  not  a  question  of  law." 

Now  there  is  in  addition  a  demand  for  a  restatement  of  our 
war  aims.     I  do  not  see  that  our  soldiers  and  sailors  and  all  of 


OUR  COUNTRY  IN  THE  WAR  71 

those  of  us  who  have  loyally  accepted  this  war  are  asking  for  a 
constant  restatement  of  the  aims.  There  is  no  question  in  our 
minds  as  to  what  we  are  fighting  for.  We  knew  from  the  start, 
and  we  had  time  to  make  up  our  minds — too  much  time  to  make 
up  our  minds.  Who  are  asking  for  a  restatement  of  war  aims? 
Well,  first  of  all,  the  pro-Germans,  unquestionably;  then,  sec- 
ondly, the  pacifists  who  never  accepted  this  war,  the  puling  paci- 
fists who  are  permitted  to  speak  and  to  carry  on  their  propaganda 
who,  because  some  of  their  forefathers  were  willing  to  die  for  the 
right  of  freedom,  are  asking  us  to  restate  our  aims. 

And  there  is  the  internationalist  with  the  vague  ideas,  who 
keep  asking  us  to  state  our  aims.  And  then,  lastly,  unfortunately, 
there  is  the  quitter  in  our  midst,  the  man  who  loses  his  grip,  who 
sees  the  horror  and  only  the  horror,  the  man  who,  like  Lord 
Lansdowne,  or  our  own  President  Eliot,  I  fear,  is  tired  and 
weary  of  the  war  and  would  gladly  compromise  and  get  out,  the 
man  like  Horace  Greeley  in  the  Civil  War,  who,  if  I  remember 
history  aright,  created  untold  difficulties  for  President  Lincoln. 
But  this  time  it  is  worse  than  that.  This  is  an  insidious  propa- 
ganda that  has  been  going  on,  first  in  Russia  with  its  terrible  after- 
math, Italy  with  its  breakdown,  France  with  its  trouble  and  what 
not,  and  England  with  a  force  which  I  personally  am  inclined  to 
believe  is  much  greater  than  is  generally  conceded. 

Why  is  it  that  Lloyd  George  and  President  Wilson  were  com- 
pelled to  come  out  again  and  formulate  their  war  aims?  I  am 
not  concerned  with  the  context  of  what  they  have  said.  The 
question  is,  why  were  they  compelled  again  and  again  to  make  this 
statement?  I  think  the  answer  is  to  be  found  in  this  insidious 
propaganda  which  is  trying  to  cast  distrust  on  the  motives  of  this 
war,  which  is  trying  to  sow  trouble  between  us  and  our  Allies ; 
and,  fundamentally,  whose  tactics  is  to  try  and  concentrate  dis- 
cussion on  a  program  instead  of  on  principles. 

You  and  I  know  that  it  is  impossible  to  get  anywhere  on  a 
program  if  we  are  not  agreed  on  principles.  It  is  impossible  for 
us  to  negotiate  with  Germany  until  she  accepts  whole-heartedly 
the  same  principles  which  we  preach.  Moreover,  you  cannot,  in  a 
great  world  war  of  this  size  where  the  situation  changes  from  one 
day  to  another,  where  rules  are  laid  down  which  cannot  pos- 
sibly be  altered,  where  claims  are  put  forth  that  were  unex- 
pected, it  is  impossible  for  one  side  to  come  forward  and  lay  all 
its  cards  on  the  table ;  and  any  one  who  demands  it  and  puts  pres- 
sure on  one  side  to  do  that  is  putting  that  side  to  an  unfair  ad- 
vantage and  is  really  working  in  favor  of  the  other  side.  Above 
all,  it  seems  to  me  it  is  impossible  to  compromise  with 
an  outlaw.     The  idea  of  any  one  daring  to  ask  when  a  bri- 


72    ONE  HUNDRED  PER  CENT  AMERICAN 

gand,  when  an  outlaw,  has  his  victims  by  the  throat, — to  ask  the 
victims  what  they  are  fighting  for !  The  idea  of  putting  the  vic- 
tim, Belgium,  on  a  level  with.  Germany  and  asking  for  a  restate- 
ment of  what  they  are  fighting  about ! 

I  may  be  too  strong,  but  it  seems  to  me  that  this  thing 
has  gone  far  enough;  that  we  have  no  right  further  to  dis- 
cuss a  program  of  peace  until  we  have  settled  the  fundamental 
question  as  to  whether  or  not  both  sides  are  willing  to  agree  on 
the  principles. 

In  closing,  may  I  call  your  attention  to  those  principles  ?  When 
is  a  country  right  and  when  is  it  wrong?  Decatur  said,  "Our 
country,  right  or  wrong."  Posterity  can't  tell  us ;  we  can't  wait 
for  history  to  tell  us.  We  can't  ask  public  opinion  abroad  to  tell 
us.  There  are  moments  when  no  nation  can  escape  the  respon- 
sibility for  reaching  its  decision  with  the  evidence  before  him. 
I  know  that  probably  a  good  many  of  you  felt  that  way  at  the 
time  that  in  the  Panama  Tolls  question  the  mere  fact  that  all 
Europe  seemed  to  be  opposed  to  our  point  of  view  made  it  neces- 
sary for  us  to  abandon  our  point  of  view.  I  remember  a  dis- 
cussion with  a  great  international  lawyer  and  he  said  at  least  the 
question  was  debatable,  and  to  say  that  because  France  and  Ger- 
many and  all  the  other  nations  of  Europe  wished  to  benefit  by 
the  same  concessions  that  England  should  obtain  did  not  make 
the  United  States  necessarily  wrong.  No  one  individual  can  de- 
cide the  issues.  No  one  individual  in  a  great  democracy  has  the 
privilege  of  saying  whether  his  country  is  right  or  wrong.  The 
answer  surely  is  plain,  that  the  majority  alone  can  say. 

As  I  understand  it  in  connection  with  war,  it  means  that  when 
the  nation  has  expressed  its  deliberate  opinion  through  its  chosen 
representatives  then  there  can  be  no  question  of  the  duty  of  every 
other  citizen  in  this  country  to  accept  the  verdict  and  to  go  for- 
ward as  one  man.  In  that  sense,  then,  Decatur's  saying  is  abso- 
lutely true,  ethically  and  every  other  way.  The  voice  of  the 
people,  "the  divine  average,"  as  Whitman  calls  it,  is  what  we 
can  fall  back  on.  We  may  make  mistakes;  but  living  in  a  de- 
mocracy, that  is  the  only  way  in  which  we  reach  conclusions, 
and  I  take  it  that  in  time  of  war  the  man,  the  pacifist  or  any 
other  man,  who  refuses  to  accept  the  verdict  of  his  country  is  in 
a  position  where  he  must  either  be  an  out  and  out  traitor  or  get 
out. 

The  intellectual  anarchist  such  as  I  have  been  speaking  of 
has  no  place  in  a  democracy.  The  extreme  individual  who  puts 
pride  of  personal  opinion  over  all  else,  who  has  no  decent  respect 
for  the  opinions  of  mankind,  has  no  place  in  a  democracy. 

When  is  a  country  wrong?     I  would  say,  briefly,  when  a 


OUR  COUNTRY  IN  THE  WAR  73 

people  permit  their  own  destinies  and  those  of  their  neighbors  to 
be  controlled  by  a  ruthless  autocracy.  When  a  democracy  has 
had  no  opportunity  to  control  its  own  destinies,  when  it  has  been 
thrown  into  a  war  as  the  people  of  Germany  have  been  thrown 
into  the  war,  I  say  that  in  such  a  situation  a  German  has  a  right 
to  question  whether  or  not  his  country  is  right  or  wrong.  And 
there  is  this  difference :  In  a  democracy  we  have  to  assume  that 
we  are  right  when  we  have  reached  our  opinion  in  proper,  legal 
process ;  but  in  an  autocracy  as  in  Germany  where  the  German 
people  have  been  the  prey  of  their  own  government  and  that  gov- 
ernment has  used  them  to  make  prey  of  the  whole  world,  I  say 
that  we  can  confidently  appeal  to  a  German  and  ask  him  to  stop 
a  minute,  "Are  you  right  or  wrong?" 

Now,  Germany  can  have  peace  when  the  German  people  as- 
sume and  exercise  this  full  responsibility.  I  believe,  personally, 
that  there  is  going  on  in  Germany  at  this  moment,  from  a  great 
many  evidences  which  are  cumulative  in  their  value,  a  great  po- 
litical upheaval,  a  revolution.  When  the  leader  of  the  Conserva- 
tives gets  up  in  the  Reichstag  and  bewails  the  fact  that  the  coun- 
try is  in  a  wrong  tendency,  that  Michaelis  was  forced  out  because 
the  Reichstag  would  have  it  so,  it  seems  to  me  we  have  something 
pretty  solid  to  go  on,  evidencing  that  what  President  Wilson  and 
the  Allies  have  insisted  on  is  really  being  consummated. 

And,  in  closing,  it  seems  to  me  that  this  is  no  time  for  us  to 
weep.  Hindenburg,  in  the  beginning  of  the  war,  said  the  war 
would  go  to  the  nation  which  had  the  strongest  nerves,  and  it 
seems  to  me  we  are  seeing  the  truth  of  that  to-day.  If  we  can 
hold 'out  vigorously,  without  any  fear  of  results,  without  any  de- 
sire to  compromise  with  an  outlaw,  if  we  can  hold  on,  Democracy 
which  has  been  working  since  1848  in  Germany  will  triumph,  and 
we  will  be  able  to  negotiate  with  people  who  will  accept  the  re- 
sponsibility for  what  has  happened  and  will  accept  the  responsi- 
bility for  peace. 

I  have  taken  the  liberty  to  say  this  thing  because  I  believe  that 
we  must  not  lose  what  we  have  already  purposed  to  acquire  and 
the  national  consciousness  that  has  been  referred  to  the  unity 
that  is  coming  out  of  this — we  must  not  lose  that. 

I  am  so  glad  that  Senator  Kenyon  emphasized  the  idea  of  uni- 
versal military  training.  Those  of  us  who  have  had  the  privilege 
of  going  into  the  camps  and  talking  with  these  men  have  come 
to  realize  what  a  marvelous  transformation  has  come  over  this 
land  through  this  compulsory  military  training.  Let  us  admit  it ; 
there  was  caste  in  this  country,  cutting  between  the  rich  and  the 
poor,  between  the  educated  and  the  uneducated;  and  universal 
military  training  is  doing  more  to  bring  the  people  together  than 


74    ONE  HUNDRED  PER  CENT  AMERICAN 

anything  else  we  have  had.  Four  of  the  students  of  my  class 
are  already  dead.  The  sacrifice  we  will  be  called  upon  to  make 
in  every  part  of  this  country  is  going  to  do  something  sublime  to 
us  all,  and  we  will  get  a  national  consciousness  and  a  national 
unity  which,  I  regret  to  say,  I  do  not  think  has  heretofore  existed. 
And  I  would  plead  for  a  patriotic  intolerance  at  this  time  of 
anything  that  stands  in  the  way  of  our  first  of  all  conducting  this 
war  efficiently  to  a  successful  conclusion,  or  our  unifying  and 
bringing  together  all  the  ends  of  this  great  country.  We  must 
not  lose  the  fruits  of  this  great  sacrifice. 


FOUR:     HONORABLE  LOUIS  DE  SADELEER 

B elgian  Commissio n 

First,  I  wish  to  express  my  most  sincere  thanks  for  the  invi- 
tation that  you  have  so  kindly  extended  to  me,  and  for  your  hearty 
welcome.  I  wish  to  express  the  same  cordial  thanks  to  the 
Honorable  Senator  Kenyon  for  his  eloquent  words  of  sympathy 
to  my  country. 

If  this  war,  as  it  has  been  rightly  said,  has  become  a  world's 
war,  the  greatest  history  has  ever  known,  the  reason  of  its  mag- 
nitude is  that  on  one  side  we  have  the  struggle  for  freedom, 
justice  and  democracy  by  the  free  nations,  while  on  the  other 
side  the  barbarity  and  despotism  of  the  middle-ages  are  incar- 
nated in  the  Prussian  militarism,  and  we  Belgians  are  grateful 
to  the  honored  President  of  the  United  States  who  has  recently 
outlined  the  conditions  of  peace  and  recalled  the  fate  of  Belgium, 
and  in  agreement  with  all  the  Allies,  has  proclaimed  that  no 
peace  is  possible  unless  Belgium  is  restored  in  her  full  political, 
economic  and  military  independence.  Belgium,  indeed,  above  all, 
is  the  living  symbol  of  the  principles  at  stake  in  the  war. 

It  was  on  August  the  second,  1914.  In  the  morning  of  that 
day  the  German  Minister  at  Brussels,  von  Billow,  told  represen- 
tatives of  the  Belgian  newspapers,  that  Belgium  need  have  no  fear 
on  account  of  the  war  already  decided  against  France,  that  Ger- 
many would  respect  the  existing  treaties. 

The  same  German  envoy  in  the  evening  of  the  same  day 
called  on  our  Foreign  Office,  with  an  ultimatum  from  Berlin 
letting  us  know  that  if  before  the  next  morning  at  7  o'clock  we 
had  not  allowed  the  German  armies  to  pass  through  Belgium, 
surrendering  our  fortifications  of  Liege  and  Namur  and  thus  con- 
senting to  become  the  accomplices  of  Germany  to  crush  France, 
Germany  should  invade  Belgium  and  treat  her  as  an  enemy. 


OUR  COUNTRY  IN  THE  WAR  75 

A  War  Council  was  held  the  same  night  at  ten  o'clock  at  the 
Royal  Palace,  the  King  presiding.     I  had  the  honor  to  attend  it. 

We  were  unanimous  in  our  answer  to  Berlin.  We  recalled  the 
solemn  treaties  signed  by  Prussia,  Austria,  Great  Britain,  France 
and  Russia,  after  our  glorious  Belgian  Revolution  of  1830,  pro- 
claiming Belgium  a  perpetual  neutral  State,  these  treaties  oblig- 
ing Germany  to  defend  Belgium,  if  her  neutrality  was  menaced. 
We  recalled  that  for  more  than  eighty  years  Belgium  had  been 
faithful  to  her  international  obligations.  We  added  that  the  Bel- 
gian Government,  if  we  were  to  accept  the  German  proposals, 
would  sacrifice  the  honor  of  the  nation  and  betray  its  duty 
towards  Europe,  but  if  Germany  should  persist  in  her  announced 
perjury,  the  Belgian  Nation  was  firmly  resolved  to  repel  by  all 
means  in  its  power  every  attack  upon  its  rights. 

You  know  what  followed.  Having  but  a  little  time 
at  my  disposal,  I  can  give  only  a  brief  account  of  it.  The  same 
night  we  sent  our  mobilized  troops  to  the  German  border  by 
more  than  a  thousand  special  trains.  The  heroic  General  Leman 
was  appointed  Commander-in-Chief  for  the  defense  of  the  posi- 
tion of  Liege.  He  opposed  alone  with  his  small  but  brave  army 
during  a  fortnight  the  innumerable  hordes  and  immense  war  ma- 
chine of  the  Germans,  blocking  their  way  to  Paris,  which  they 
had  hoped  to  reach  in  a  few  days.  The  Prussians  were  so  unable 
to  advance  that  they  were  obliged  to  bring  big  siege  guns  from 
Austria,  who  although  yet  at  peace  with  us,  and  although  as 
well  as  Prussia  was  a  guarantee  of  our  neutrality,  committed 
the  treachery  to  send  them. 

General  Leman,  seriously  wounded,  fell  under  the  ruins  of 
the  last  fort. 

Then  followed  the  battles  near  Namur,  Haelen,  Aerschot, 
Louvain,  Malines,  etc.,  the  brilliant  sorties  of  Antwerp  which  con- 
tributed so  much  to  the  victory  of  the  Marne,  the  siege  of  Ant- 
werp; the  retreat  from  Antwerp;  the  battles  of  Flanders 
and  the  heroic  defense  of  the  Yser,  preventing  the  Germans  from 
reaching  Calais,  one  of  their  greatest  objectives;  and  for  more 
than  three  years  now  the  Belgian  Army,  strongly  reorganized,  has 
fought  there  day  and  night,  making  vain  all  renewed  efforts  of 
our  enemies  to  reach  the  French  coast. 

This  has  been  the  response  of  Belgium  to  Germany. 

The  losses  of  our  army  have  been  tremendous  and  you  will 
permit  me  to  pay  a  respectful  homage  to  the  memory  of  our  noble 
sons,  who  gallantly  gave  their  lives  for  the  defense  of  our  sacred 
soil  and  the  cause  of  liberty. 

Since  the  sacrilegious  invasion  of  Belgium,  the  sufferings  of 


76    ONE  HUNDRED  PER  CENT  AMERICAN 

our  civilian  population  also  have  been  great.  You  know  the  wan- 
ton destruction  of  so  many  of  our  beautiful  historical  cities  and 
towns,  of  the  celebrated  University  of  Louvain  (dating  back  five 
centuries)  with  the  invaluable  treasures  of  her  library;  the  mur- 
der en  masse  of  inoffensive  inhabitants,  of  priests,  women,  chil- 
dren by  the  German  troops;  the  organized  plunder,  the  levies 
of  millions  of  dollars  on  cities  and  villages,  the  absence  of  all 
guarantee  of  defense  for  the  unfortunate,  dragged  before  the 
odious  military  tribunals,  organized  by  the  Teutons  and  against 
which  the  jurists  of  the  entire  world  have  protested. 

You  know  also  of  the  infamous  deportations  of  more  than 
100,000  Belgian  citizens,  reducing  them  to  a  state  of  slavery, 

A  good  many  of  them  died  in  Germany  from  starvation.  Oth- 
ers are  only  returned  to  their  country  when  they  are  suffering 
from  tuberculosis  and  other  incurable  diseases. 

When  these  facts,  turning  back  the  Christian  civilization 
twenty  centuries,  to  the  darkest  times  of  the  Neros  and  the  Calig- 
ulas,  became  known  here,  just  after  the  presidential  election  of 
November,  1916,  they  raised  in  this  country  the  most  admirable 
explosion  of  protest,  perhaps,  ever  seen.  Prominent  people  of 
all  opinions,  the  clergy  of  all  denominations,  the  universities  and 
colleges,  the  newspapers,  were  leading  the  movement.  Every- 
where, from  the  North  to  the  South,  from  the  Atlantic  to  the 
Pacific,  splendid  meetings  were  organized  and  the  resolutions, 
unanimously  voted  were,  among  others,  conceived  in  the  follow- 
ing sense.    I  am  citing  textually : 

"That,  irrespective  of  former  governmental  action,  it  is  hereby 
made  known  to  all  men  everywhere  that  no  government  which, 
after  due  protest,  persists  in  casting  freemen  into  bondage  can 
longer  be  regarded  by  liberty-loving  Americans  as  having  a  place 
in  the  family  of  civilized  nations."  (Philadelphia  Meeting,  Janu- 
ary 7th,  1 91 7.) 

America  was  still  neutral.  But,  Germany  having  despised  all 
these  protests  as  she  had  disregarded  all  former  protests  against 
her  barbarian  warfare,  the  ruthless  sinking  of  undefended  ships 
by  her  submarines  and  continuing  to  violate  all  divine  and  human 
laws,  America,  on  the  next  February  third,  broke  off  all  diplo- 
matic relations  with  her,  and  on  April  6th  she  chivalrously 
declared  war  on  Germany,  and  was  applauded  by  all  civilized 
nations. 

Some  friends  have  requested  me  to  say  a  few  words  concern- 
ing the  present  conditions  in  Belgium,  where  about  seven  million 
inhabitants  are  prisoners  in  their  own  country  under  the  bar- 
barian rule  of  the  invader. 


OUR  COUNTRY  IN  THE  WAR  77 

According  to  all  official  information  there  has  been  for  the 
last  few  months  a  real  famine  in  Belgium.  Many  people  are  dy- 
ing of  starvation,  especially  children,  women  and  elderly  people. 

Owing  to  different  circumstances,  imports  of  food  from  the 
United  States  unfortunately  have  declined  since  last  summer. 

Baron  de  Broqueville,  our  Prime  Minister,  in  an  address  de- 
livered at  the  Trocadero  in  Paris,  in  November  last,  stated  that 
the  Belgian  population  had  only  received  14  per  cent,  of  fats  and 
29  per  cent,  of  succulent  foods  of  the  amount  needed.  In  an  ad- 
dress delivered  in  Antwerp,  at  the  meeting  of  the  Relief  Commit- 
tee of  the  province  of  Antwerp  held  also  in  November,  Hon.  L. 
Franck,  Alderman  of  the  City,  stated  in  turn,  that  the  program 
provides  for  11,000  tons  of  imported  food  every  month  and  that 
only  60  per  cent,  or  less  of  that  amount  had  been  received.  I  am 
proud  to  add  that,  notwithstanding  all  their  suffering,  the  patriotic 
spirit  of  the  Belgians  remains  indomitable. 

America  has  most  generously  helped  us  morally  and  materially 
since  the  very  beginning  of  the  war.  Our  people  feel  confident 
that  you  will  do  it  more  than  ever.  Every  one  knows  of  your 
endless  power  and  efficiency.  You  have  placed  it  at  the  service 
of  the  world's  freedom.  You  are  gallantly  fighting  side  by  side, 
with  Belgium  and  the  Allies.  America's  flag  has  never  been  de- 
feated in  any  war.  Our  common  cause  shall  be  victorious,  for 
it  is  the  cause  of  justice,  liberty,  and  democracy,  which  is  im- 
mortal ! 


THIRD  DISCUSSION 

JANUARY  NINETEENTH,    I9I8 

THE  AIMS  OF  DEMOCRACY  IN  THE  PRESENT 

CRISIS 


THE  AIMS  OF  DEMOCRACY  IN  THE  PRESENT 

CRISIS 


ONE:     BY  HONORABLE  WALTER  E.  EDGE 

Governor  of  New  Jersey 

I  wondered  for  the  moment,  during  the  course  of  the  luncheon, 
just  why  you  still  retain  the  name  of  the  "New  York  Republican 
Club."  As  I  look  about  the  room  I  think  it  would  be  well  to  call 
it  the  "New  Jersey  Republican  Club,"  as  I  see  many  of  my  fellow- 
statesmen,  and  I  mean  that  from  any  standpoint  you  wish  to  take 
it,  in  the  room.  However,  that  is  in  no  way  different  from  the 
generosity  of  New  Jersey  along  every  line.  We  feel,  modestly 
speaking,  that  we  have  contributed  to  New  York's  wonderful  suc- 
cess, New  York's  "punch,"  New  York's  determination,  through 
loaning  you  in  the  daytime,  at  least,  thousands  of  loyal  New  Jersey 
men,  and  we  are  very  glad  to  have  them  spend  that  part  of  their 
time  in  New  York,  to  loan  them  to  you,  so  far  as  that  would 
seem  wise  and  proper,  to  make  all  the  money  they  can  in  New 
York  and  to  spend  it  in  New  Jersey !  However,  we  are  in  no  way 
jealous,  and  I  feel  in  no  way  strange.  Before  I  decided  that  per- 
haps I  might  help  save  the  State  in  those  days,  I  was  a  New  York 
business  man  and  I  see  some  of  my  associates  of  those  days  in 
the  room  to-day,  and  I  thank  them  for  still  remembering  me, 
now  that  I  have  fallen  and  gotten  into  politics. 

We  are  far  from  being  jealous.  We  realize  this,  and  if  I  have 
had  one  thought  beyond  all  others  in  connection  with  the  many 
responsibilities  of  public  life,  it  has  been  along  the  line  of  part- 
nership between  New  York  and  New  Jersey.  I  have  felt  that  this 
one  great  big  national  institution,  you  might  term  it,  the  port  of 
New  York,  will  be  neglected  so  far  as  New  Jersey  is  concerned, 
excepting  through  individual  enterprise  here  and  there  of  course 
— very  much  better  organized  so  far  as  New  York  is  concerned. 
I  am  very  glad  to  see,  with  the  inspiration  of  your  distinguished 
Governor,  Governor  Whitman,  the  cooperation  of  legislators  of 
the  two  States.  We  have  now  entered  into  a  hard  and  fast  part- 
nership with  New  York.  We  are  not  fighting  lighterage  suits 
through  the  courts,  but  we  are  cooperating  to  develop  that  won- 
derful institution  with  its  possibilities,  the  center,  in  my  judg- 

81 


82    ONE  HUNDRED  PER  CENT  AMERICAN 

ment,  or  it  will  be,  of  all  the  industrial  and  commercial  develop- 
ment of  the  world,  with  our  great  country  on  one  side,  and,  when 
the  war  is  over,  the  countries  abroad  on  the  other.  We  have 
entered  into  a  hard  and  fast  partnership,  and  have  succeeded, 
even  in  these  days  of  war,  in  interesting  the  Government  in  the 
importance  of  it,  so  that  our  New  York-New  Jersey  Port  Com- 
mission is  now  officially  recognized  by  the  Federal  authorities, 
and  we  are  assured  by  the  War  Board  of  the  Port  of  New  York 
that  even  in  great  transportation  problems  under  government 
control,  nothing  will  be  done  in  connection  with  transportation, 
without  taking  into  conference  both  Commissions  of  our  two 
States  now  in  partnership. 

I  would  like  to  talk  with  you  in  the  few  moments  that 
I  have  to  remain  with  you,  and  that,  by  the  way,  perhaps  draws 
forth  an  explanation  of,  not  why  I  am  here,  but  why  I  am  pro- 
tected by  so  many  able,  vigorous,  healthy  looking  officers.  I 
don't  need  all  that  escort  when  I  come  to  New  York.  I  fre- 
quently come  to  New  York,  and  I  hope  even  New  Jersey  doesn't 
know  I  am  coming  to  New  York,  and  I  don't  bring  any  members 
of  my  Staff ;  but  to-day  we  have  a  second  duty  and  pleasure.  We 
are  going  to  visit  Camp  Merritt,  with  General  Shanks  in  com- 
mand, to  look  over  the  cantonment,  visit  the  men  who  are  there 
to  dedicate  one  of  the  public  buildings,  and  that  being  a  military 
responsibility,  of  course  the  Governor  must  be  accompanied  by 
his  very  good-looking  Staff. 

I  started  to  say  that  I  would  like  to  talk  to  you  to-day  about 
these  business  developments,  about  how  it  is  possible,  in  my 
judgment,  in  normal  times,  for  a  state  government,  with  all  its 
power,  really  to  enter  into  the  business  life  and  the  business  de- 
velopment of  a  state  and  its  various  units.  I  have  been  inter- 
ested in  that  particularly — the  development  of  public  responsi- 
bility— how,  with  the  tremendous  advantage  a  state  government 
has,  instead  of  being  a  deterrent  to  business,  how  it  can  en- 
courage and  help  mobilize  the  assets  and  possibilities  of  a  state 
in  such  a  way  that  industrial  and  commercial  development  fol- 
lows, and  happiness  is  brought  more  and  more  to  all  classes  of 
people. 

But  we  all  realize  that  many  of  these  economic  questions,  so 
far  as  they  relate  to  business,  must,  to  a  great  extent,  be  tempo- 
rarily, at  least,  set  aside.  We  are  not  putting  them  all  aside  in 
New  Jersey.  We  recognize  that  even  in  France  to-day,  almost 
within  the  hearing  of  the  noise  of  the  battle  line  on  the  front, 
they  are  building  tunnels,  and  we  in  New  Jersey  propose  to  con- 
tinue, so  far  as  it  seems  at  all  practical  to  do  it,  the  development 
of  our  state  from  a  business  standpoint.    We  are  going  to  build 


DEMOCRACY  IN  THE  PRESENT  CRISIS         83 

our  highways.  We  have  now  fifteen  million  dollars  readily 
available,  or  at  least  it  will  be  from  time  to  time  as  necessary, 
to  build  a  highway  system.  We  propose  to  finance  at  this  session 
of  the  legislature  the  problem  of  joining  with  you  when  you  are 
ready,  and  we  hope  it  will  be  soon,  to  build  a  vehicular  tunnel 
under  the  Hudson  River. 

We  don't  propose  to  set  aside  anything  that  we  think  impor- 
tant, with  all  due  consideration  to  our  other  problems — and  we 
are  just  as  deeply  engrossed  in  this  as  it  is  possible  to  be — we  don't 
propose  to  put  aside  anything  which  we  think  will,  to  an  extent, 
not  only  help  solve  them,  but  which  will  make  America  all  the 
more  ready  to  take  up  that  unusual  responsibility  of  leading 
the  world  in  constructive  enterprise  after  the  war  is  over.  As  I 
understand  it,  your  Saturday  meetings  are  practically  a  by-prod- 
uct of  the  club  for  the  purpose  of  discussion.  Every  discussion 
must  necessarily  form  itself  in  a  way  into  a  war  conference,  and 
very  properly  so.  We  have  that  responsibility  and  we  have 
that  problem  to  solve,  and  we  are  all  engaged  in  doing  so. 

New  Jersey, — and  I  am  going  to  speak  particularly  of  New 
Jersey  in  this  connection  but  very  briefly, — New  Jersey  is  a 
busy  little  state,  not  large  in  area,  with  a  population  of  approxi- 
mately 3,000,000,  situated — I  think  it  is  a  good  illustration  to  com- 
pare New  Jersey  in  a  way  with  Belgium — near  the  large  metro- 
politan centers ;  industrially  very,  very  busy,  its  population  very 
compact;  and  I  might  also  say  that  from  a  standpoint  of  unselfish 
patriotism,  it  likewise,  if  necessary,  can  be  compared  to  Belgium. 
New  Jersey  to-day,  or,  at  least,  up  until  a  few  weeks  ago — I 
have  not  had  the  actual  returns  in  recent  weeks — had  more  boys 
in  the  service  of  the  United  States  in  all  branches  of  the  service, 
in  proportion  to  its  population,  which,  of  course,  does  not  neces- 
sarily include  or  exclude  the  draft,  because  that  is  similar  every- 
where, had  sent,  in  proportion  to  its  population  more  men  into 
the  service  of  the  Government — the  military  service  and  the  naval 
service — than  any  other  State  in  this  great  big  Union.  We  know 
the  legacy  that  we  have  been  given  and  the  history  of  the  other 
wars  and  other  troubles  of  the  United  States  and  the  legacy 
that  they  have  left  to  this  generation,  and  how  difficult  it  may  be 
to  keep  up  to  the  traditions  of  Trenton  and  of  Morristown  and  of 
Princeton  and  of  Monmouth  and  of  many  other  cities  in  history 
that  you  know  just  as  much  about  as  I  do. 

But  to-day  we  are  not  dealing  with  the  past ;  we  are  dealing 
with  the  immediate  present  and  the  future,  and  we  are  forgetting 
all  those  things,  as  you  unquestionably  are  for  the  time,  reveling 
as  we  do  in  our  history,  and  are  preparing  to  help  solve  these 
immediate  problems  to  the  best  of  our  ability. 


84    ONE  HUNDRED  PER  CENT  AMERICAN 

I  have  refrained  from  criticizing  those  in  higher  authority. 
We  are  all  in  the  military.  You  are  in  the  military ;  whether  you 
wear  a  uniform  or  not,  you  are  in  the  military  too.  You  have 
many  responsibilities  in  your  own  commercial  and  your  own  busi- 
ness life  which  may  be  contributing  to  the  success  of  the  war. 
I  have  felt  that  even  if  mistakes  have  been  made,  and  many  mis- 
takes have  unquestionably  been  made,  that  our  first  duty  was  to 
forget  those  mistakes  and  simply  do  everything  that  we  felt  that 
we  could  do,  following  every  suggestion  from  the  National  Gov- 
ernment, meeting  every  obligation  and  anticipating  some,  if  it  is 
possible  to  do  it,  and  it  has  been,  forgetting  the  errors  and  endors- 
ing the  rapid  progress  that  unquestionably,  to  an  extent,  has  been 
made.  However,  I  do  feel — and  I  am  going  to  speak  very  frankly 
about  it — that  perhaps  we  can  best  serve  the  Government  if,  while 
adhering  to  every  proclamation  or  every  order  which  is  finally 
issued,  of  course  adhering  to  it  to  the  letter  and  doing  everything 
in  our  power  to  have  it  carried  out,  at  the  same  time  we  de- 
velop patriotism,  which  does  not  keep  us  from  frankly  expressing 
it,  when  we  do  feel  that  some  things  could  be  bettered  by  a  more 
general  knowledge  throughout  the  country  of  the  conditions,  I 
believe  we  are  better  doing  our  duty  to  say  so  frankly. 

In  other  words,  we  have  reached  a  period,  as  I  look  upon  it, 
in  the  war,  that  unfortunately,  very  unfortunately,  there  is  doubt, 
decided  doubt,  in  the  minds  of  all  classes  of  our  citizenship  in 
different  sections  of  the  country.  It  is  not  in  any  way  political. 
It  is  far  from  any  thought  of  politics.  We  don't  know  any  party 
to-day.    We  haven't  any  right  to  know  any  party  to-day. 

Speaking  of  that  which  is  unquestionably  in  all  of  your  minds, 
the  recent  order  in  connection  with  our  use  of  fuel  and  its  rela- 
tion to  industry,  I  have  already  expressed  myself  publicly.  I 
have  only  this  comment — I  won't  call  it  criticism — to  make,  and 
I  think  it  is  proving  itself:  if  the  condition  is  so  bad,  which  it 
apparently  is,  as  to  have  required  this  very  drastic  order  from 
Federal  authorities,  then  the  wisdom  of  this  democratic  form  of 
Government,  in  my  judgment,  and  the  question  of  a  democratic 
form  of  government,  dealing  with  all  its  people,  should  have  been 
so  expressed  that  the  people  of  the  country  should  have  known 
that  fact,  been  given  sufficient  warning  of  that  condition,  and  be 
in  a  position  better  to  cooperate  and  meet  the  exigencies  of  the 
government,  rather  than  have  an  absolute  business  paralysis.  In 
other  words,  my  friends,  and  I  don't  want  to  be  misunderstood, 
ever  since  the  war  started,  I  have  only  had  one  thought,  and  that 
is  to  cooperate  with  the  Government,  and  I  am  not  going  over  the 
details,  I  will  leave  that  entirely  to  the  people  of  New  Jersey; 
but  I  do  believe  that  the  mistake  of  this  country  in  this  war,  an/ 


DEMOCRACY  IN  THE  PRESENT  CRISIS         85 

it  is  well  to  talk  about  it  because  it  must  be  stopped,  is  over- 
censorship  as  to  what  we  are  doing,  when  it  doesn't  interfere 
with  our  military  or  naval  problems.  You  can  trust  the  people 
of  the  United  States.  If  you  can't,  we  are  not  in  a  position  to-day 
to  assume  the  great  responsibilities  we  are  going  to  assume  nec- 
essarily when  we  win  this  war.  I  don't  mean  by  that, — of  course, 
I  don't,  I  haven't  time  to  go  into  the  details— I  don't  mean  by 
that  that  the  Government  must  tell  the  public  through  the  press 
every  plan.  Of  course  not.  But  when  things  are  in  such  distress- 
ing conditions,  when  furnishing  material  to  our  soldiers,  are  as 
it  was  demonstrated  they  were,  it  is  very  much  better  to  put  the 
responsibility  frankly  up  to  the  business  men  of  the  country  who 
are  interested  in  it,  rather  than  tell  the  country  that  everything 
is  all  right  and  there  practicalTy  isn't  anything  that  could  be  im- 
proved upon. 

This  country  is  ready  to  meet  its  obligations.  That  is  the  only 
general  criticism  that  I  would  make  of  conditions  to-day — no,  it  is 
specific,  I  believe — the  President  and  his  power,  his  determina- 
tion, his  ability,  are  unquestioned  anywhere.  One  of  the  contri- 
butions of  New  Jersey  has  been  the  contribution  of  Woodrow 
Wilson  to  lead  the  country  at  this  time.  And  I  haven't  anything 
whatever  to  say  except  in  praise,  so  far  as  his  determination,  so 
far  as  his  carrying  the  responsibilities  of  this  war,  are  concerned, 
but  no  man,  however  big,  however  able,  however  patriotic,  how- 
ever American  he  is,  and  he  is  all  of  that  and  more  too,  can  do 
this  without  having  surrounding  him  the  men  who  have  made 
individual  successes  in  every  line  of  industry  in  this  country 
which  has  made  the  country  what  it  is.  It  is  absolutely  time 
to-day  to  open  the  Cabinet  of  the  United  States  to  men  of  this 
type,  not  simply  to  depend  on  men  who  are  going  loyally  to  Wash- 
ington, asking  to  be  of  help  and  service  and  being  placed  in  some 
of  the  numerous  offices  of  the  National  Council  of  Defense. 

That  is  not  the  position  that  some  of  our  men  to-day  should 
be  occupying,  but  there  should  be  four  or  five  portfolios  in  the 
Cabinet  of  the  President  of  the  United  States,  headed  by  men 
whom  this  country  and  practically  all  countries,  from  a  business 
standpoint,  know  as  the  very  heads  of  business  success  in  this 
great,  prosperous  country.  It  will  forever  demonstrate  that  we 
are  fighting  this  war  as  an  American  nation,  without  any  thought 
of  partisanship  or  party.  That  will  renew  confidence  throughout 
this  country  which  will  make  up  for  the  present  deplorable  feeling 
that  things  are  not  going  right,  and  that  is  a  bad  feeling  to  have, 
too,  in  a  war,  and  with  which  to  send  hundreds  of  thousands  of 
our  boys  to  France  to  go  "over  the  top." 

Certainly  I  haven't  made  these  very  rambling  remarks  with 


86    ONE  HUNDRED  PER  CENT  AMERICAN 

any  thought  in  the  world  excepting  that  of  cooperation.  Many 
incidents  might  be  interesting,  some  perhaps  it  would  not  be  well 
to  have  publicly  discussed  because  of  their  influence.  It  was  told 
the  other  day  by  a  colonel  in  the  National  Guard,  a  man  who 
had  served  in  the  National  Guard  for  thirty  years,  an  excellent 
soldier  from  my  viewpoint,  that  he  had  lost  his  commission,  the 
only  reason  assigned  being  that  he  had  not  had  the  proper  ele- 
mentary education  in  his  early  days.  I  don't  know  that  it  was  said 
that  it  was  because  he  had  not  had  a  college  education ;  I  don't 
think  it  was.  I  know  him  intimately.  He  occupied  in  civil  life  a 
very  responsible  position  with  a  large  concern,  for  years  the  same 
position.  It  seemed  to  me  that  if  true  perhaps  it  had  better  be 
talked  about ;  if  untrue,  it  had  better  be  denied.  It  is  a  tragedy, 
as  I  look  upon  the  development  of  our  nation,  if  true;  a  nation 
where  Presidents  have  been  born  in  log  cabins,  with  little  oppor- 
tunity for  education,  and  have  always  ruled,  or  at  least,  influenced 
the  world  in  the  settlement  of  important  national  and  interna- 
tional questions. 

When  that  colonel,  in  charge  of  3,600  boys,  with  thirty  years 
of  military  experience,  was  able  to  have  absolute  discipline  in  his 
command,  it  seems  to  me  that  when  he  leads  those  boys  in  France 
he  does  not  need  a  text  book  in  one  hand  and  a  college  diploma  in 
the  other;  he  needs  only  the  stout  heart  of  an  American  soldier. 
I  say  that  because,  if  it  is  true,  for  the  good  of  the  service  it 
should  be  stated;  it  should  be  answered.  I  understand  the  case 
is  to  be  reopened.     I  hope  it  is. 

In  the  National  Guard  of  New  York  and  the  National  Guard 
of  New  Jersey  I  don't  think  there  has  been  the  slightest  discrimi- 
nation, so  far  as  I  know,  shown  those  boys.  If  it  is  necessary  for 
the  service,  so  be  it ;  the  boys  themselves  have  not  complained.  It 
is  perfectly  wonderful ;  fifteen  hundred  Jersey  boys  in  one  camp 
in  the  South,  and  I  have  yet  to  receive  one  letter  from  an  enlisted 
man  from  that  tremendous  number,  complaining  about  his  per- 
sonal experience  in  the  cantonment.  But  I  think  that  these  offi- 
cers who  have  given  all  they  have,  have  served  so  many  years, 
should  be  given  every  possible  opportunity  to  lead  the  boys,  should 
have  an  opportunity,  unless  physically  disqualified  for  service.  I 
believe  they  will  be  given  that  opportunity  but  I  am  speaking  of  it 
because  it  is  along  the  line  of  the  other  thought.  I  believe  a  little 
more  public  discussion  in  this  country  to-day  will  solve  many  of 
these  problems,  and  will  probably  give  a  proper  answer  to  many 
uncertainties  which  now  exist,  and  it  is  time  to  wipe  them  out. 

I  have  spoken  very  publicly,  very  generally,  somewhat  criti- 
cally perhaps.  It  is  necessary,  I  believe,  at  this  time  for  men  who 
have  naturally  some  power  and  responsibility  not  to  help  the 


DEMOCRACY  IN  THE  PRESENT  CRISIS         87 

Government  in  formulating  a  new  policy  entirely  but  to  help  the 
Government  to  dispel  this  feeling  of  dissatisfaction.  I  am  con- 
vinced that  you  cannot  dispel  it  by  simply  sitting  still  in  a  way 
and  carrying  out  the  perfunctory  problems  that  you  have.  I 
simply  want  to  contribute  everything  that  is  in  me  and  the  power 
of  New  Jersey  to  help  win  this  war.  And  I  believe  we  are 
better  doing  it  when  we  frankly,  without  passion,  without  preju- 
dice, state  our  views,  as  eight  or  nine  months  of  continued  life 
in  a  war  atmosphere  day  and  night  has  certainly  enabled 
us  to  do. 

I  don't  want  to  cast  any  gloom.  I  have,  just  as  you  all  have, 
no  thought  in  the  world  but  that  America  will  come  out  of  this 
war  victorious.  I  have  no  doubt  in  the  world  that  we  will  have 
our  days  as  we  have  now,  when  it  is  necessary  to  take  an  account 
of  stock,  and  probably  in  a  way  begin  over  again,  and  the  quicker 
we  realize  these  various  cycles  in  our  preparation,  the  sooner  we 
will  correct  whatever  evils  occur.  I  am  here  simply  as  a  soldier 
of  the  Republic,  under  the  President  of  the  United  States.  I  will 
cooperate  with  him  in  everything,  of  course,  that  he  wants  us  to 
do.  I  still  will  always  claim  the  right  to  give  a  personal  opinion 
in  the  interest  of  helping  and  in  the  interest  of  cooperation. 


TWO:     BY  DR.  SHAILER   MATHEWS 

Dean  of  Divinity  School,  the  University  of  Chicago 

I  was  born  in  Maine.  No  man  who  was  born  in  Maine  and 
moved  elsewhere  will  fail  to  tell  you  of  the  fact  before  he  has 
spoken  very  long.  For  there  is  nobody  so  proud  of  Maine  as 
the  people  who  no  longer  live  there!  I  moved  out  into  the 
United  States  something  like  twenty-five  years  ago,  and  feel 
as  if  it  were  possible  to  look  out  upon  the  world  with  a  real 
sense  of  the  fact  that  there  is  a  world  the  other  side  of  the  Hud- 
son !  I  have  recently  had  this  sense  of  the  extent  of  our  country 
enlarged.  I  have  been  in  California  and  in  Texas  and  in  New 
Jersey,  and  I  feel  as  if  I  had  been  around  the  triangle  of  the 
American  nation. 

Wherever  you  go  you  find  a  fundamental  identity  of  atti- 
tude. True,  we  do  not  fly  as  many  flags  in  the  West  as  you  have 
here  in  the  East ;  one  might  almost  say  that,  like  the  course  of 
empire,  westward  the  course  of  flag-flying  takes  its  way.  The 
spirit,  however,  of  the  Central  West  and  of  the  Pacific  West  is 
identical  in  its  loyalty  with  that  of  the  Atlantic  seashore. 

We  of  the  Central  West  have  had  our  peculiar  situations.    We 


88         ONE  HUNDRED  PER  CENT  AMERICAN 

have  had  to  shape  up  certain  policies  and  develop  certain  atti- 
tudes because  of  our  history  and  our  various  economic  and  social 
interests :  but  our  attitude  towards  the  war  is  that  of  the  nation. 
we  know  that  the  world  faces  a  crisis  when  the  future  is 
being  settled. 

If  you  go  back  to  the  latter  part  of  the  Eighteenth  Century, 
you  will  see  a  remarkable  development  of  a  spirit  which  found  its 
-  ssion  in  America  first,  and  then  in  France  and  in  England 
and  then  around  the  world.  You  might  describe  that  spirit  as  the 
Anglo-American  conception  of  government.  It  was  not  a  refer- 
endum democracy  that  was  then  being  developed :  it  was  a  rep- 
resentative democracy.  The  Eighteenth  Century's  struggle  for 
rights  found  its  completest  expression  in  the  rise  of  responsible 
government,  in  whatever  form  that  might  happen  to  be.  Great 
Britain  is  to-day  as  truly  democratic  as  is  the  United  States.  It 
is  true,  they  have  a  king,  but  there  are  really  two  Georges  gover- 
ing  England  just  now,  George  the  Fifth  who  might  be  described 
in  the  terms  of  Bagehot  as  the  figure-head  of  the  government, 
and  Lloyd  George  who  is  the  head  of  the  government.  When 
you  contrast  a  third  George  with  Lloyd  George,  you  see  the 
measure  of  general  tendency  of  the  Anglo-American  concep- 
tion of  government,  the  conception  of  a  representative  democ- 
racy finding  its  executive  power  through  representation.  Our 
Constitution  is  based  upon  that  conception,  and  nation  after  na- 
tion has  followed  our  example  until  at  last  there  is  no  nation  on 
the  face  of  the  earth  that  is  not  partially  organized  or  fully  organ- 
ized on  that  fundamental  conception,  except  the  German  Em- 
pire, the  Austrian  Empire  and  Turkey.  Of  course,  you  must  add 
Bulgaria. 

It  is  a  very  extraordinary  situation,  but  a  student  of  social 
movements  will  question  whether  it  is  the  end  of  the  story.  About 
every  hundred  and  twenty-five  years  there  emerges  a  new  cycle, 
which  might  be  called  the  "Cycle  of  the  Great  Grandchildren,''  in 
which  the  accomplishments  of  the  great  grandfathers  are  re- 
garded as  utter  conservatism,  and  the  future  is  described  in  some 
form  of  idealism  as  yet  untried. 

There  are  three  great  political  conceptions  at  work  just  now 
on  the  field  of  battle,  and  in  the  field  of  diplomacy.  The  first 
of  them  is  the  Prussian  conception  of  the  state  as  supreme  but 
not  democratic :  the  Anglo-American  representative  democracy ; 
and  that  radical  democracy  which  has  found  expression  in  these 
latter  days  in  the  Bolshevik  party  of  Russia.  I  fancy  that  we 
can  understand  the  attitude  of  England  towards  the  Jacobins  in 
the  French  Revolution,  as  we  compare  our  own  attitude  towards 
this  Bolshevik  movement  in  Russia.    For  the  first  time,  the  un- 


DEMOCRACY  IN  THE  PRESENT  CRISIS         89 

dercurrent  of  socialism  has  moved  out  into  the  control  of  a  great 
state.  No  man  can  foretell  how  far  that  Bolshevikism  is  to  go. 
As  you  look  back  over  the  last  twenty  years  in  the  United  States, 
you  see  a  development  along  the  lines  which  no  one  of  us  could 
well  have  forecast  twenty  years  ago.  To-day  we  are  taking  as 
matters  of  fact  certain  governmental  activities  that  we  should 
have  denounced  as  radical  dangers  twenty  years  ago. 

The  days  of  the  future  will  be  testing  days — not  of  autocracy, 
for  autocracy  is  doomed ;  the  whole  course  of  social  and  political 
evolution  sounds  its  death-knell.  The  other  day  the  Kaiser  said 
to  his  people  that,  in  view  of  their  splendid  attitude  during  the 
war,  he  thought  that  after  the  war  was  over,  it  might  be  possi- 
ble, perhaps,  for  him  to  extend  to  the  people  a  larger  extent  of 
electoral  privileges.  My  guess  is  that  his  people  will  get  them, 
whether  the  Kaiser  extends  those  privileges  or  not.  That  is  a 
part  of  the  inevitable,  and,  gentlemen,  the  inevitable  always  comes 
off! 

But  the  real  test  is  going  to  come  in  the  struggle  between  the 
Anglo-American  representative  democracy,  and  the  Russian  Bol- 
shevik conception  of  direct  democracy.  That  is  an  issue  of  effi- 
ciency for  which  we  may  well  prepare. 

Our  Constitutional  development  for  the  last  few  years  has 
eventuated  in  an  administration  of  college  presidents.  This  is  a 
great  day  for  the  college  president  in  practical  affairs.  One  col- 
lege president  conducts  the  government  of  the  United  States, 
and  pretty  nearly  the  world  just  now ;  and  another  college  presi- 
dent represents  democracy  in  the  fuel  line.  A  certain  distin- 
guished Englishman  came  over  here  the  other  day,  and  seeing 
what  was  actually  happening  in  the  United  States,  said,  "You 
people  in  America  certainly  believe  in  democracy,  for  we 
should  never  dare  turn  over  the  powers  to  one  individual  that 
you  are  so  turning  over.  You  must  have  an  abounding  faith 
that  you  can  get  them  back  again  when  the  war  is  over."  I  take 
it  that  is  an  expression  of  the  fundamental  attitude,  and  it  may 
be  a  prophecy  of  a  more  efficient  democracy  in  the  future. 

Of  course,  you  can  always  get  efficiency  if  you  have  a  po- 
liceman to  assist  you.  I  remember  when  I  was  a  student  in 
Berlin,  I  carefully  deposited  the  core  of  a  pear  in  the  gutter. 
I  remember  distinctly  the  wave  of  self-approbation  which  swept 
over  me.  But  I  had  no  sooner  performed  that  rite  of  civic  duty 
than  a  policeman  marched  up  to  me  and  said,  "That  is  verboten. 
You  must  pick  that  core  up  and  put  it  in  that  box  over  there." 
I  obeyed.  In  a  small  way  that  was  a  specimen  of  German  effi- 
ciency. You  can  always  get  efficiency  of  a  certain  sort  if  you 
have  somebody  to  punish  the  man  who  won't  obey.    And  the  em- 


90    ONE  HUNDRED  PER  CENT  AMERICAN 

ciency  of  Prussianism  is  a  more  or  less  diluted  form  of 
schrecklichkeit. 

The  efficiency  of  democracy  is  a  very  different  sort  of  thing. 
You  can't  terrorize  a  democrat  into  doing  what  you  want  him  to 
do.  There  have  been  times  when  democracy  seemed  to  be  an 
ingenious  method  of  unseating  a  man  just  as  he  became  efficient, 
and  there  are  times  in  which  you  cannot  help  feeling  that  if  talk 
is  the  salvation  of  democracy,  it  is  also  more  or  less  of  a  danger. 

Educational  processes  in  the  development  of  efficient  democ- 
racy are  slow,  and  especially  when  you  have,  as  we  have  had  in  our 
country  the  extraordinary  and  pioneering  adventures  in  politics. 
We  had  made  the  State  synonymous  with  citizenship  and  then 
opened  up  citizenship  to  all  persons — by  and  bye  we  shall  treat 
women  as  persons !  We  are  already  doing  it  in  more  advanced 
sections. — This  double  adventure  has  of  necessity  made  progress 
less  rapid  in  our  group  efficiency  than  would  have  been  the  case  if 
we  could  have  forced  obedience  upon  our  citizens. 

I  have  been  coming  to  feel  of  late,  possibly  rather  pessimis- 
tically, that  the  way  in  which  a  democracy  of  any  sort  can  get 
cumulative  efficiency  is  by  a  series  of  explosive  novelties.  You 
bring  novelties  to  the  attention  of  a  crowd,  and  they  will  hurrah 
and  do  something.  They  will  get  tired  of  doing  it  pretty  quick 
and  then  you  have  to  give  them  something  else  to  do.  The  real 
leader  in  a  democracy  is  not  the  man  who  drags  people  into  do- 
ing what  he  wants,  but  the  one  who  finds  out  first  what  they 
ought  to  do  and  which  way  they  ought  to  go,  and  then  persuades 
them  into  a  proper  state  of  mind.  That  takes  leadership.  Lead- 
ership is  not  the  same  as  marching  at  the  head  of  the  procession. 
Small  boys  march  at  the  head  of  a  procession,  and  ahead  of  the 
band.  But  they  are  not  the  leaders,  although  they  are  the  fore- 
goers.  They  always  look  around  to  see  which  way  the  proces- 
sion is  going ! 

A  genuine  leader  is  able  not  only  to  lead  his  procession,  but 
to  keep  close  enough  to  it  so  that  the  procession  does  not  have 
to  send  out  reconnoitering  parties  to  find  out  where  its  leader  is 
gone.  That  in  itself  is  a  test  requiring  extraordinary  capacity  in 
a  democracy.  Place  a  man  at  the  head  of  a  democracy  or  a  sec- 
tion of  a  democracy,  whether  it  be  national  or  local  and  demand 
of  him  leadership,  and  you  at  once  face  the  relationship  of  the 
people  who  are  going  to  be  lead,  to  the  leader.  A  great  moment 
of  war,  like  this,  is  giving  us  a  new  conception  of  what  leadership 
in  a  democracy  really  is.  We  have  thought  that  leadership  meant 
selecting  the  small  boy  to  lead  the  procession,  and  we  dressed 
him  up  in  certain  of  the  paraphernalia  of  office  and  we  have  said 
to  him,  "Go  to  it,  boy ;  we  will  follow  you  if  you  go  in  the  way  in 


DEMOCRACY  IN  THE  PRESENT  CRISIS         91 

which  we  want  you  to  go."  And  suddenly  we  find  ourselves  in 
a  democracy  with  a  leader  not  only  responding  to  our  conceptions, 
but  actually  telling  us  what  we  have  to  do !  It  is  not  an  entirely 
new  experience.  The  war  of  1861-65  did  the  same  thing.  The 
discussions  of  the  Constitutional  war  powers  of  the  President 
which  grew  out  of  the  war  of  1861-65  show  that  our  fathers  had 
to  learn  the  same  lesson  which  we  have  to  learn  just  now;  that 
when  democracy  requires  leadership  and  not  simply  silent  acqui- 
escence in  our  expressed  suggestions  as  to  a  line  of  march,  it  has 
to  learn  the  meaning  of  efficiency  in  a  democracy. 

There  are  two  ways  open  to  us  at  that  point.  There  is  the 
way  of  the  Prussian  autocracy.  It  is  a  perfectly  consistent  ex- 
pression of  the  State,  in  accordance  with  which  there  has  been 
worked  out  in  Germany  an  efficiency  never  equaled  except  by  the 
Roman  Empire.  On  the  other  side,  there  is  the  referendum-by- 
universal-talk  democracy  of  the  Bolsheviki.  But  one  cannot  find 
efficiency  in  Russia.  You  can't  run  a  government  by  universal 
talk.  Somebody  has  got  to  do  something.  Between  Prussian- 
ism  and  Bolshevikism  lies  our  historically  originated  and  pro- 
gressive conception  of  the  State  in  which  delegated  power  must 
transform  ideals  into  executive  action.  We  are  learning  how 
to  make  that  transformation.  We  are  actually  finding  efficiency 
in  our  democracy. 

Right  here  is  an  interesting  contrast  in  psychology,  as  I  catch 
it.  The  German,  when  he  begins  to  fail,  begins  to  brag ;  the  Eng- 
lishman or  the  American,  when  he  begins  to  succeed,  appoints  an 
investigating  committee  to  know  why  he  didn't  succeed  faster! 

But  as  a  question  of  the  future,  what  will  be  the  ultimate 
outcome  of  this  new  efficiency  in  terms  of  democracy.  Are  we 
to  deliver  ourselves  into  the  hands  of  an  autocracy  masquerad- 
ing as  a  representative  democracy  or  are  we  to  move  over  into  the 
Bolshevik  conception  of  the  State?  Or  is  there  a  third  alterna- 
tive? The  Bolshevik  attitude  is  as  hostile  to  representative  de- 
mocracy as  it  is  to  Prussianism.  None  of  us  can  understand  what 
is  going  on  in  Russia  until  we  clear  our  minds  of  any  idea  that 
the  Soviet  movement  resembles  our  representative  democracy. 
It  is  a  different  conception,  a  different  ideal  of  government  that 
is  emerging,  and  our  great  task  is  to  determine  in  what  way  we 
shall  develop. 

Can  we  carry  over  our  great  conception  of  representative  de- 
mocracy into  the  new  era  which  is  bound  to  come  ?  We  are  apt  to 
talk  about  this  new  era  in  a  very  general  way.  We  forecast  the 
things  that  are  going  to  come  for  our  children.  If  I  read  the 
situation  correctly,  we  need  not  wait  for  our  children  to  have  it 
come.     It  is  here,  a  new  attitude  towards  the  State.     A  very 


92    ONE  HUNDRED  PER  CENT  AMERICAN 

new  conception  of  what  our  government  as  such  is,  and  the  ad- 
justment of  the  conception  of  governmental  efficiency  to  demo- 
cratic interests  and  democratic  efficiency  is  already  on  our  hands. 

When  one  looks  back  over  the  last  few  months  and  sees  what 
has  been  accomplished  in  the  United  States,  one  is  amazed  at  the 
transformation  which  has  come  over  the  people  of  the  United 
States — at  the  extent  to  which  that  new  conception  of  the  power 
of  the  executive  in  the  midst  of  a  representative  democracy  has 
gone.  I  know  perfectly  well  there  are  plenty  of  things  to  criticize. 
Anybody  can  see  that.  I  have  recently  visited  a  number  of  the 
camps.  The  situation  breaks  upon  one  like  a  revelation.  I  shall 
never  forget  the  first  time  I  was  on  Reilly  Field.  I  may  be  bring- 
ing coals  to  Newcastle  (that  is  an  unfortunate  reference!  You 
have  probably  heard  the  definition  of  a  fluent  speaker.  "Flu- 
ent— an  adjective  derived  from  'flue,'  a  receptacle  for  hot  air"). 
But  go  down  to  San  Antonio  and  see  that  great  aviation  field. 
It  will  be  impossible  to  describe  the  impression  which  that  makes 
on  you.  jf  When  you  bear  in  mind  that  the  vast  field  is  only 
one  episode  in  the  constitutional  reconstruction  of  representa- 
tive democracy,  you  are  impressed  with  the  fact  that  there  is 
a  vitality  and  a  power  of  conservation  as  well  as  of  progress  in 
our  own  governmental  situation  we  never  had  suspected — at  least, 
we  men  of  this  generation. 

Go  back  to  1914,  when  democracy  was  faced  with  its  great  task. 
You  see  the  extraordinary  development  of  the  German  State, 
with  the  control  of  Austria  as  well,  and  its  enormous  preparation ; 
and,  on  the  other  side,  you  see  Great  Britain  with  what  the 
Germans  called  her  "contemptible  little  army."  They  don't  speak 
of  it  as  "contemptible"  since  the  Marne.  You  see  an  empire 
scattered  over  the  world,  very  loosely  connected,  with  Canada 
all  but  as  independent  as  the  United  States,  and  the  same  as  true 
of  Australia.  In  three  years,  in  two  years,  you  have  seen  that 
democracy  organizing  itself,  transforming  itself,  meeting  the  task 
more  efficiently  than  the  autocracy  that  had  forty  years  the  start 
of  it.  It  is  a  thing  we  never  suspected  of  democracy.  We  feared 
that  democracy  would  tumble  over  itself  when  it  tried  to  run. 
On  the  contrary,  it  goes  forward  in  serried  ranks,  ready  to  go 
"over  the  top"  of  anything  that  is  in  its  way. 

What  has  happened  in  the  British  Empire  is  happening  here. 
We  are  so  close  to  it  that  we  don't  realize  the  extraordinary 
movement,  but  we  are  doing  something  which  I  doubt  whether  we 
thought  could  be  done. 

You  remember,  as  I  do,  a  couple  of  years  before  the  war,  or  a 
little  longer  than  that,  there  was  a  growing  distrust  of  democ- 
racy in  America.     I  remember  very  distinctly  an  evening  spent 


DEMOCRACY  IN  THE  PRESENT  CRISIS         93 

in  company  with  two  of  the  biggest  men  in  the  business  line  in 
America.  (College  professors  occasionally  eat  of  the  crumbs 
which  fall  from  the  high  financiers'  tables.)  I  remember  our 
discussion.  It  was  full  of  pessimism  about  democracy  in  Amer- 
ica. I  tried  in  my  feeble  way  to  say  a  few  kind  words  for  the 
departed,  but  it  was  useless.  The  tombstone  had  been  ordered 
and  the  only  question  was  whether  there  should  be  engraved  on 
it  the  virtues  or  the  vices  of  the  deceased.  And  yet,  at  this  day 
one  of  those  men — I  don't  dare  describe  his  position  because  you 
might  catch  a  suggestion  as  to  who  he  is — is  one  of  the  leaders 
in  the  reorganization  of  this  country  of  ours.  Instead  of  a  radical 
distrust  of  democracy,  born  of  a  tremendous  success  as  a  busi- 
ness man,  he  is  seeing  to  it  that  certain  forces  of  our  national  life 
are  being  organized  and  brought  to  a  successfully  efficient  form. 

Did  none  of  you,  in  1914,  go  through  a  period  of  mental  de- 
pression, when  it  seemed  as  if  all  the  things  you  had  hoped  for 
were  shown  by  the  brutal  reductio  ad  absurdum  of  the  war  to  be 
of  no  significance  whatever?  Is  there  a  man  who  feels  that  way 
to-day?  We  have  found  the  recuperative  powers  of  democracy; 
nay,  we  have  seen  the  powers  of  democracy  to  beget  new  institu- 
tions capable  of  facing  new  situations. 

Three  years  ago  I  was  over  in  Japan.  I  think  I  made  some- 
thing like  ninety  speeches  in  twenty-seven  days.  I  remember 
saying  to  Mr.  Bryan  (the  late  Secretary  of  State)  when  I  came 
back:  "Mr.  Bryan,  I  don't  know  as  even  you  can  equal  that 
record."  I  found  in  Japan  a  very  interesting  situation.  Going 
over  there  with  the  orthodox  American  attitude  towards  our- 
selves, I  suddenly  found  the  Japanese  people  suspecting  us  of 
everything  of  which  we  suspected  them.  It  took  me  several  days 
to  get  that  through  my  self-satisfied  American  head.  Then  I  be- 
gan speaking  at  meetings  which  were  organized  for  the  purpose 
of  permitting  me  to  set  forth  the  American  point  of  view.  I 
began  with  an  exposition  of  the  spirit  of  America.  Gentlemen, 
one  of  the  great  experiences  of  a  lifetime  is  to  be  thrust  into  an 
exposition  of  your  national  virtues.  Of  course,  an  extempora- 
neous explosion  of  nationalist  buncombe  is  not  difficult.  You  can 
always  let  the  eagle  scream,  provided  it  does  not  turn  out  to  be  a 
dove  of  peace ;  but  to  set  forth  accurately  the  position  of  America 
in  international  affairs,  possessed  not  only  the  charm  of  nov- 
elty, but  inspiration.  In  disclosing  the  general  policies  of  the 
United  States  before  those  who  suspected  our  country  I  could 
say  what  no  representative  of  any  other  country  on  the  face  of  the 
earth  could  say.  It  made  you  proud  of  being  an  American!  I 
belong  to  a  group  of  those  who  had  been,  on  the  whole,  rather 
free  in  their  criticism  of  America— j^f or  there  is  nothing  the  aca- 


iU    ONE  HUNDRED  PEB  CENT  AMERICAN 

domic  mind  likes  bettor  than  to  criticise  thin  *.  which  it  has 

had  no  particular  informa:  stand  face  to  face 

with  3  ins  to  intern.  u  see  that 

our  n  .live  democracy,  however  you  may  account  tor  it, 

een  building  u  ies  of  precedents,  which,  unless  all  signs 

fail,  will  con-  great,  if  not  the  greatest  foundation  of  the 

Id. 

e  were  tv  es,  at  least :  the  s<\ 

President    All  the  world 
een  struck  with  their  similarity.     Lloyd  George  said  yester- 
sini         j   was  not  pn  fed;  that  neither  knew 

what  the  c  And  Lloyd  liv  inds  forth  be- 

there  are  t'.  .;  purposes  for  which 

ted.  The  first  is  the  reinstatement  of 
on  of  power.  The  second  is  the  establish- 
ment of  I  peoples  to  choose 
themselves  the  s  which  they  shall  live. 
And  the  third  is  the  01  .  i  of  a  League  of  Nations  which 
shall  make  war  in  the            i     ess         babl<       Those  three   | 

luct  of  a  democratic  conce  if  interna- 

tional relations.     You  couldn't  get  Germany  to  avow  those  three 
If  she  •  .  them,  we  should 

of  twenty- four  hours — to-morrow. 
TL  the  fundamental  things  for  which  we  are  stand- 

rid  our  President  in  his  Four:,.      \  eat  affirmations  has  du- 
bed — in  his  own  style — those  propositions. 
That  is  no  accident.     It  is  the  extension  into  world  politics, 
gentlemer  spirit  of  the  United  States  and  of  Great  Britain 

in  dealing  with  democracies.     If  I  had  time,  as  I  see  I  have  not. 
I  should  be  glad  to  sc  .  those  outstanding  prece- 

-  which  we  have  been  building  up. 

x  our  courtesy  makes  me  think  of  a  story  that  John  Kelman 
told   me  about  the   British  ship.     There  was  a  boy  who 

and  after  it  had  been  through  the  cen- 

-      -  "Dear  i  :  everything  had  been 

ed  down  to  the  cud.  "Your  loving  son.  Willie,"    The  censor, 

entry  a  tcnder-lu.  est    lines:     "Willie  is 

well,   but  a    trifle   garrulous."      That   is   possibly   my    condition, 

but  with  your  permission  1  will  mention  a  few  of  these  prece- 

s    which   we   have   built   up.      Take   our   Monroe    Doctrine. 

g  vd  deal  like  woman  suffrage,     We  don't  know  what  it 

is  and  we  don't  know  what  the  women  are  going  to  do  with  it, 

and  we  don't  believe  the  women  know  themselves  what  they  are 

going  to  do  with  us.  but  we  know  they  are  going  to  do  it !     And 

ith  the  Monroe  Doctrine.     We  don't  know  quite  what  it  is 


DEMOCRACY  IN  THE  PRESENT  CRISIS  95 

and  we  don't  quite  know  what  it  is  going  to  do  to  us ;  but  we 
know,  by  the  grace  of  God,  it  is  going  to  do  it ! 

You  remember  how  it  arose.  Three  of  the  most  powerful 
nations  in  the  world,  with  a  great  deal  of  piety,  formed  a  Holy 
Alliance;  and  another  alliance,  which  was  not  quite  so  pious  but 
was  a  little  more  practical.  For  sometimes  piety  in  politics  is  dip- 
lomatic camouflage.  Those  three  nations  organized  a  union  to 
put  down  democracy.  Whereupon  our  little  country  through  the 
voice  of  President  Madison  threw  into  history  a  policy  with  two 
elements.  The  first  was  that  hereafter  no  European  power  should 
have  another  foot  of  land  more  in  South  America,  North 
America  or  Central  America.  The  second  was  that  no  Euro- 
pean power  should  establish  any  colonies  in  South  America,  North 
America  or  Central  America.  We  didn't  have  enough  of  navy  to 
organize  a  naval  review,  and  no  army  big  enough  for  a  headquar- 
ters' guard.  But  we  notified  those  nations  of  our  purpose.  In 
God  we  trusted,  in  those  days !  But  the  singular  thing  was  that 
it  worked !  You  ask,  Why  ?  It  is  perfectly  evident  those  na- 
tions have  taken  us  seriously  because  Great  Britain  has  backed 
up  the  Monroe  Doctrine  with  its  fleets. 

We  talk  about  our  debt  to  France,  and  it  is  a  great  debt.  We 
paid  a  part  of  it  when  we  gave  them  the  idea  of  a  successful  rep* 
resentative  democracy  back  in  1789.  We  are  going  to  pay  a  good 
deal  more  of  that  debt.  We  are  paying  it  now.  But  the  debt 
which  the  United  States  owes  to  Great  Britain  and  has  owed  for 
a  hundred  years  is  beyond  computation.  For,  if  it  had  not  been 
for  Great  Britain,  the  Monroe  Doctrine  would  have  been  smashed 
half  a  dozen  times. 

I  want  to  read  you  one  little  quotation  which  I  carry  round 
with  such  things  as  I  can  afford  to  carry.  You  may  have  read 
it.  It  is  a  report  of  what  a  German  Admiral  said  in  1898.  It 
was  placed  in  the  archives  of  the  State  Department :  "About  fif- 
teen years  from  now,  my  country  will  start  a  great  war.  She 
will  be  in  Paris  about  two  months  after  the  commencement  of 
hostilities.  Her  move  on  Paris  will  be  but  a  step  toward  her  real 
object,  the  crushing  of  England.  Some  months  after,  we  will 
put  your  country  in  your  place  with  reference  to  Germany.  We 
don't  propose  to  take  any  of  your  territory  (mighty  decent  of 
them!)  but  we  do  intend  to  take  a  billion  or  so  of  your  dollars 
from  New  York  and  other  places.  The  Monroe  Doctrine  will  be 
disposed  of  by  us  and  we  will  dispose  of  South  America  as  we 
please.    Don't  forget,  fifteen  years  from  now  !" 

International  relationship  is  not  built  on  treaties ;  it  is  built  on 
national  attitude,  and  a  community  of  spirit.  That  the  boundary 
line  to  the  north  of  us  runs  across  the  continent  without  forti- 


96    ONE  HUNDRED  PER  CENT  AMERICAN 

fication  and  without  a  soldier,  is  not  a  matter  of  treaties.  It  is 
born  of  a  "gentlemen's  agreement."  In  the  hundred  years  in  which 
we  have  been  at  peace,  there  is  not  a  foot  of  the  boundary  we 
have  not  submitted  to  court ;  there  is  not  a  codfish  on  the  banks 
of  Newfoundland  that  has  not  been  submitted  to  arbitration ;  but 
we  have  not  fought.  We  have  been  building  up  precedents,  a 
procedure  of  spiritual  unity,  born  of  a  similar  experience  in  rep- 
resentative democracy. 

The  German  attitude,  as  put  forth  in  all  of  its  treatises  on  the 
State,  is  perfectly  clear;  a  state  can  grow  by  war;  war  is  not  a 
thing  to  be  avoided ;  it  is  simply  to  be  timed.  Germany  has  grown 
by  annexation  and  indemnity. 

Our  policy  has  been  different.  Of  course,  we  had  the  Mexican 
War,  but  after  we  had  taken  from  Mexico  the  provinces  which 
Mr.  Zimmermann  was  so  concerned  that  Mexico  should  get  back, 
we  paid  $15,000,000  for  them.     The  victor  paid  the  indemnity! 

We  had  a  war  with  Japan  in  1868.  We  happened  to  be  over 
there,  and  the  other  nations  got  into  war  with  Japan.  Of  course, 
Christians  ought  to  hang  together.  We  hadn't  any  navy,  so  we 
hired  a  gunboat  of  the  Dutchmen  and  went  to  war.  We  took 
$800,000  from  Japan.  We  couldn't  digest  it,  and  it  stayed  in  the 
Treasury  of  the  United  States  for  fifteen  years.  In  1883  we 
paid  back  to  Japan  the  $800,000  with  interest  for  the  fifteen 
years. 

We  had  a  war  with  Spain  twenty  years  ago.  When  we  got  the 
Philippines  (or  the  Philippines  got  us)  we  paid  Spain 
$20,000,000  for  the  islands.    Again,  the  victor  paid  the  indemnity. 

We  had  a  war  with  China  when  the  European  nations  began 
the  process  of  dismembering  China.  The  Boxers  arose  and  bru- 
tally tried  to  stop  it.  When  the  disturbance  was  over,  there  came 
the  indemnity.  They  laid  on  that  poor,  amorphous  nation  just 
beginning  to  live  an  indemnity  of  nearly  half  a  billion  dollars. 
Our  share  was  $20,000,000.  We  took  about  $10,000,000  to 
meet  our  actual  expenses  and  told  China  she  could  keep  the 
rest.  And  China  has  been  using  those  millions  to  send  her 
students  to  our  universities. 

Take  our  attitude  towards  Cuba.  Of  course,  this  sounds  like 
bragging ;  but  we  know  perfectly  well  that  we  Americans  are  not 
saints.  We  are  not  saints,  we  are  Americans.  Whether  or  not 
it  is  because  we  have  so  much  land  we  don't  need  any  more, 
the  simple,  cold  fact  is,  that  we  have  been  building  up  gener- 
osity in  our  international  relations.  We  gave  Cuba  back  to  her- 
self twice.  It  is  no  mere  accident  that  when  war  broke  out, 
the  Cubans  were  the  first  to  come  forward  and  stand  by  our 


DEMOCRACY  IN  THE  PRESENT  CRISIS         97 

side ;  no  mere  accident  that  at  this  very  minute  a  whole  division 
of  Filipinos,  the  sons  of  the  men  who  fought  our  country,  are 
being  organized  to  fight  for  our  country  in  France,  with  Agui- 
naldo's  son  one  of  the  number.  It  is  not  an  accident.  It  is  the 
result  of  the  democratic  conception  of  international  relations. 

It  is  the  same  with  South  Africa.  The  British  know  perfectly 
that  there  are  constitutional  questions  that  must  be  adjusted 
there  but  the  Boers  are  being  drawn  into  a  fellowship  of  repre- 
sentative democracy. 

Take  our  whole  attitude  towards  South  America  and  Mexico. 
I  don't  know  what  you  thought  about  the  President's  policy,  but 
his  wisdom  should  be  apparent  at  the  present  time  in  our  rela- 
tions with  the  South  American  Republics  as  a  whole.  His  refusal 
to  intervene  in  Mexico  is  a  part  of  the  new  mass  of  precedents 
we  are  building  up  from  the  point  of  view  of  a  democracy. 
And  what  is  that  attitude  of  mind  which  Great  Britain  and 
France  and  ourselves  and  others  are  building  up?  In  brief, 
it  is  that,  over  against  the  German  position  that  the  weak  nation 
has  no  rights  against  the  strong  nation,  if  the  strong  nation  wants 
to  use  the  weak  nation — stands  the  declaration  of  democracy  that 
the  weak  nation  has  rights,  just  as  truly  as  the  strong  nation ;  that 
it  is  the  business  of  the  strong  nation  to  give  justice  to  the  weak 
nation.  Over  against  the  idea  of  the  conquest  of  a  nation  by 
brute  power  stands  the  right  of  sovereignty  of  the  weak  people. 

The  great  issue  rising  before  Germany  at  this  moment  is, 
whether  the  liberal  German  with  his  clear  conception  of  what 
real  history  means  shall  be  at  least  beaten  or  shall  at  last  win  over 
the  Fatherland  party  that  stands  for  the  monstrous,  anachronis- 
tic imperial  conception  of  government.  The  answer  may  not  be 
immediate,  but  it  is  bound  to  come,  for  there  is  no  chance  in  so- 
cial evolution.  The  cosmic  sanity  that  keep  the  stars  from  fight- 
ing in  their  courses  keeps  human  life  moving.  We  are  not  living 
in  a  decadent  world ;  we  are  living  in  an  evolving  world. 

There  came  into  my  office  some  time  ago  a  negro  who  had  on 
his  cheek  three  gashes.  They  were  the  tribal  marks  of  a  primi- 
tive savage  race.  He  had  never  seen  a  white  man  until  he  was 
eight  years  old,  and  now,  less  than  thirty,  wanting  to  know  if  he 
could  take  advanced  courses  in  the  Semitic  languages !  Think  of 
what  this  boy  had  done.  He  had  passed  the  whole  gamut  of 
history,  from  primitive  savagery  to  the  university. 

Humanity  is  not  headed  towards  the  tribal  gashes  of  primi- 
tive savagery.  Humanity  is  headed  for  these  things,  for  which, 
let  us  be  humbly  grateful  as  well  as  proud,  we  have  been  able  to 
lay  a  mass  of  precedents  on  which  the  history  of  the  future  can 
be  built. 


98    ONE  HUNDRED  PER  CENT  AMERICAN 

Representative  democracy  is  learning  how  to  be  efficient.  It 
is  giving  itself  to  the  task  of  efficiency  with  the  enthusiasm  of 
those  who  believe  in  democracy  but  do  not  believe  that  democracy 
means  "mobocracy."  It  is  giving  itself,  sometimes  unconsciously, 
but  none  the  less  really,  to  the  task  of  democratizing  the  relations 
between  nations.  It  has  a  long  way  to  go  before  the  goal  is 
reached.  I  hope  that  no  goal  will  ever  be  reached  in  human 
progress.  We  want  a  moving  goal.  But  we  shall  go  forward, 
and  the  world  will  go  forward.  Twenty  years  from  now,  as  we 
measure  the  advance,  we  shall  have  made  I  dare  predict  that  we 
shall  find  that  the  idealism  of  Anglo-American  representative  de- 
mocracy will  have  flung  itself  out  into  international  relations; 
that,  enlarged  and  given  the  beauties  of  other  civilizations  and 
other  experiences  than  those  of  the  Anglo-American,  it  will  still 
be  loyal  to  that  sacrificial  conception  which  is  the  heart  of  true 
democracy,  that  it  is  more  blessed  to  give  justice  than  it  is  to  fight 
for  rights. 


THREE:     BY  HONORABLE  GEORGE  E.  CHAMBERLAIN 

United  States  Senator 

It  is  a  great  pleasure,  I  assure  you,  to  be  with  you  again.  I 
have  gotten  to  be  almost  an  annual  pest  here  with  this  club, 
and  although  I  am  a  Democrat  and  have  sometimes  feared  that  it 
was  a  case  where  the  lion  and  the  lamb  were  lying  down  together, 
I  have  never  yet  found  myself  inside  the  lion !  They  have  always 
treated  me  with  such  distinguished  courtesy  that,  in  the  language 
of  the  British  Vice  Consul  in  my  State,  who,  after  hearing  a  pa- 
triotic American  speech,  said  jocularly,  "I  almost  feel  like  an 
American  citizen" ;  so  I  almost  feel  like  a  Republican  when  I 
come  up  here. 

Under  the  Food  Administration  Measure,  they  have  meatless 
days  and  wheatless  days,  but  your  club  does  not  seem  to  have 
any  speechless  days,  and  I  sometimes  feel  that  it  would  be  nicer 
to  come  up  and  put  my  feet  under  your  table  and  have  a  good, 
social  time,  rather  than  make  a  speech ;  but  these  are  times,  my 
countrymen  and  my  friends,  when  every  true  American,  every 
red-blooded  American,  ought  to  be  ready  to  say  something  about 
his  country  and  its  cause.  And  so  feeling  and  so  believing,  not- 
withstanding the  fact  that  I  have  been  working  sixteen  and  eigh- 
teen hours  a  day  since  the  first  of  December,  I  still  am  willing 
to  devote  a  little  of  my  time  to  talking  to  my  friends  on  a  sub- 
ject in  which  we  are  all  vitally  and  nationally  and  internationally 
interested. 


DEMOCRACY  IN  THE  PRESENT  CRISIS         99 

I  do  not  know  what  you  want  me  to  talk  to  you  about.  I  sup- 
pose, however,  that  the  subject  of  most  interest  to  us  all  is  the 
question  of  preparedness  for  the  fight  that  we  are  now  in.  Some 
of  us  have  been  talking  upon  this  question  for  a  good  long  while, 
and  I  think  you  will  bear  testimony  to  the  fact  that  I  shared 
the  time  here  a  year  ago  with  a  gentleman,  a  very  distinguished 
New  York  citizen,  who  took  the  position  it  was  not  necessary 
to  make  any  preparation  for  defense  and  that  it  was  not  neces- 
sary to  be  prepared  to  fight. 

I  remember  asking  that  distinguished  gentleman,  when  we  were 
discussing  this  proposition  of  preparedness  on  another  occasion, 
what  would  have  happened  to  France,  if,  when  the  efficient  and 
well  trained  German  Army  appeared  on  her  Western  front, 
France  had  then  occupied  the  position  which  America  occupied 
at  the  time  this  war  broke  out,  and  which  we  in  some  measure — 
I  say  it  regretfully — occupy  to-day,  a  condition  of  unprepared- 
ness,  what  would  have  happened  to  that  magnificent  republic? 
His  reply  was  that  if  the  German  Army  had  come  to  the  West- 
ern front  of  France  and  found  a  country  that  was  disarmed,  in 
her  compassion  and  her  sympathy,  she  would  not  have  under- 
taken to  attack  her.  That  is  the  opinion  of  a  great  many  paci- 
fists to-day ;  that  being  prepared  to  fight  leads  a  country  to  want 
to  fight  and  instead  of  avoiding  difficulty,  is  apt  to  bring  about 
difficulty. 

If  this  country  had  done  what  some  of  us  were  advocating 
three  years  ago,  shortly  after  the  war  began ;  if  it  had  gone  to 
work,  as  it  ought  to  have  gone  to  work  and  as  it  ought  to  do  now, 
and  trained  her  young  men  from  sixteen  to  twenty-one  years 
of  age  to  fight,  instead  of  having  an  untrained  drafted  army 
of  business,  commercial  and  professional  men,  absolutely  unpre- 
pared, we  would  to-day  have  had  a  perfectly  trained  army,  and, 
in  my  opinion,  that  very  preparation  on  the  part  of  America 
would  have  made  the  Teutons  hesitate  a  long  while  before  forc- 
ing America  into  this  fight. 

But  that  appeal  was  disregarded.  It  was  not  heard.  It  was 
the  voice  of  one  crying  in  the  wilderness,  to  people  who  had  lived 
the  life  of  ease  and  peace  so  long  that  they  could  not  realize  the 
necessity  of  getting  ready  to  defend  America ;  although  the  fight 
is  on  a  distant  shore,  they  would  have  been  prepared  to  have 
made  America  and  the  world  safe,  not  only  for  democracy,  but 
for  liberty  and  justice  and  right.  Although  this  fight  is  not  on 
American  soil,  it  threatens  not  only  the  liberty  of  the  citizens  on 
the  continent  of  Europe,  but  it  threatens  as  well  the  liberty  and 
the  institutions  of  America. 

I  think  the  statement  attributed  to  a  prominent  German  officer 


100   ONE  HUNDRED  PER  CENT  AMERICAN 

that  Germany  would  march  through  Belgium  to  France,  take 
Paris,  cross  the  English  Channel  and  take  Great  Britain,  and  then 
seize  America,  compelling  her  to  pay  the  indemnity  that  she  would 
have  demanded  from  these  countries  to  pay  for  the  war,  was 
absolutely  true  from  the  standpoint  of  autocracy  and  militarism. 
And  I  have  no  assurance  to-day  that  the  war  may  not  come  to 
our  shores  yet. 

There  was  a  time  when  America  boasted  of  her  isolation ;  but 
that  boast  can  no  longer  be  made.  It  took  longer  for  a  force  to 
travel  from  Washington  to  Petersburg  during  the  Civil  War,  than 
it  takes  now  to  carry  troops  from  America  to  France.  The  ex- 
pense was  greater  then  than  now ;  and  fighting  was  a  mere  child's 
play  from  the  beginning  of  civiliation  to  the  present  time,  as  com- 
pared with  the  methods  of  warfare  that  have  been  adopted  now. 
There  has  not  been  a  conception  in  Hell  itself  which  has  not 
been  seized  by  the  Hun  and  put  into  use  in  the  destruction  of 
human  life  and  of  property  as  well. 

Is  America  to  lie  supinely  by  and  say  that  no  danger  can  come 
to  her,  because,  forsooth,  the  Atlantic  separates  us  from  the 
immediate  scenes  of  war,  when  it  is  absolutely  true  that 
the  means  of  communication  are  almost  automatic  and  instan- 
taneous, not  only  through  the  air  and  on  the  land  and  on  the 
waters,  but  under  the  very  waters  themselves,  and  we  see  the  hid- 
den assassin  in  the  trenches  as  well  as  under  the  waters,  and  the 
very  heavens  themselves  rain  down  missiles  of  destruction  upon 
innocent  women  and  children  everywhere? 

Let  me  tell  you,  as  was  very  ably  presented  by  a  distinguished 
ex-President  of  the  United  States  a  while  ago,  that  you  are  fight- 
ing the  battle  of  the  women  and  children  of  our  land  just  as 
well  as  of  the  men;  and  they  are  just  as  much  interested  in  it 
as  the  men ;  because  America  occupies  no  different  position  so 
far  as  her  splendid  women  are  concerned  than  the  women  and 
children  of  poor  devastated  Belgium,  who  were  murdered  in 
the  very  market-places  of  that  unfortunate  country. 

Arouse  yourselves,  my  countrymen!  This  is  not  a  one-man 
fight.  This  is  the  fight  of  America  as  well  as  the  fight  of  the 
nations  that  are  engaged  in  it  on  the  immediate  scenes  of  the  war. 

Not  only  have  we  not  enough  trained  men  now,  after  ten 
months  of  America's  part  in  it — we  are  getting  trained,  and  we 
will  be  trained — but  we  are  only  training  one  million  men  or  a 
little  over,  and  God  grant  that  that  may  be  all  that  we  shall  need, 
but  we  shall  probably  need  many  million  before  the  end  comes. 
If  America  does  her  duty,  she  will  hasten  to  get  a  million  or  two 
more  men,  and  if  necessary,  to  have  more,  and  she  will  have 
them  prepared  to  play  their  part  in  this  terrible  conflict. 


DEMOCRACY  IN  THE  PRESENT  CRISIS       101 

We  have  had  no  very  definite  war  programme,  up  to  this  time, 
I  am  sorry  to  say.  It  seemed  to  me  that  when  the  first  conflagra- 
tion was  started  in  Europe  in  August,  1914,  that  any  man  who 
had  any  sense  of  proportion  at  all,  that  any  man  who  was  able 
to  visualize  not  only  our  own  country  but  the  countries  across  the 
waters  and  take  in  the  situation  in  those  countries,  must  have 
realized  that  America  must,  by  the  very  fact  of  her  wealth  and 
size,  become  a  party  to  and  take  an  active  part  in  that  fight. 

It  has  been  with  that  in  view  that  some  in  Congress,  and 
some  not  in  official  life — and  we  can  do  nothing  without  having 
the  people  behind  us — saw  fit  to  urge  our  country,  when  the  war 
first  broke  out,  to  get  ready  to  fight.  The  timid  and  the  pacifist 
said  when  the  selective  draft  law  was  before  Congress  that 
America  did  not  need  to  get  ready ;  she  did  not  need  to  draft  her 
men.  And  this  for  two  reasons :  first,  that  there  would  be  volun- 
teers spring  up  from  every  section  and  offer  their  services  to  fight 
the  battles  of  our  country.  I  believe  that  was  true,  but  can  any 
sane  man  tell  me  why  the  red-blooded  boys  of  America  should  be 
the  first  to  go  to  the  sacrifice?  Why  the  young  men  of  the  stores 
and  business  houses,  should  go  to  the  front,  and  leave  behind  the 
coward  and  the  craven  and  the  men  who  are  too  busy  making 
money  to  want  to  help  ?  Why  should  these  leave  the  coward  and 
the  craven  at  home  to  procreate  his  species  and  perpetuate  the 
race?  Why  should  your  son,  with  red  American  blood  flowing 
through  his  veins,  offer  his  life  upon  the  altar  of  his  country  and 
another  gentleman's  son,  of  equal  capacity  and  of  equal  oppor- 
tunity, be  allowed  to  remain  behind  and  not  offer  that  same 
service  ? 

In  other  words  why  should  a  volunteer  system  continue  as  a 
system  which  spares  the  slackers  and  takes  the  lives  of  the  pa- 
triotic young  men.  As  said  by  another,  "The  casualties  in  the 
French  Army,  for  instance,  represent  virtually  a  'perpendicular' 
loss ;  or,  in  other  words,  a  loss  of  a  part  of  each  stratum,  from 
the  highest  to  the  lowest,  in  human  value  to  the  French  nation. 
On  the  other  hand,  the  casualties  in  the  British  Army,  under  the 
voluntary  system,  represented  a  terrible  'horizontal'  loss,  or  a  loss 
of  the  bravest  and  best,  a  loss  of  human  value  taken  from  the 
highest  strata  of  Great  Britain's  manhood.  And  so  it  was  during 
the  greater  part  of  our  Civil  War,  with  what  result  to  posterity 
no  man  can  tell." 

There  is  no  doubt  that  the  young  men  would  have  volunteered, 
but  every  war  has  proved  that  in  a  long  protracted  war,  you  can- 
not depend  on  the  volunteer  system.  There  comes  a  time  when 
the  volunteer  system  is  insufficient  to  fill  the  depleted  ranks  in  the 
army.    It  was  the  same  in  the  Civil  War,    Washington  is  author- 


102       ONE  HUNDRED  PER  CENT  AMERICAN 

ity  for  the  saying  that  patriotism  alone  cannot  save  a  country. 
There  must  be  some  compulsion  somewhere ;  and  every  man, 
woman  and  child  must  learn  to  realize  the  obligations  of  citizen- 
ship, that  the  benefits  of  citizenship  carry  with  them  the  obliga- 
tion of  service  when  the  country  needs  that  service.  That  was 
one  argument  that  was  made  for  the  draft  law.  I  think  it  was 
that  distinguished  citizen,  Mr.  William  Jennings  Bryan,  who  said 
you  could  get  out  a  million  citizens  that  would  spring  to  arms  in 
twenty-four  hours.  But,  oh,  at  what  a  sacrifice ;  what  a  slaughter 
would  follow  their  actual  engagement !  Put  one  German  division 
of  thirty  thousand  men  against  them  and  they  would  melt  like 
snow  before  the  morning  sun.  To  send  an  untrained  force,  how- 
ever large,  against  a  trained  force  would  simply  mean  death  to 
those  whom  we  sent  to  do  a  duty  that  ought  to  rest  on  all. 

But  it  was  urged  there  was  another  and  a  second  reason  why 
there  should  be  no  selective  draft  law,  that  conscription  was  viola- 
tive of  the  traditions  of  America.  The  argument  has  been  made 
from  Revolutionary  times  down  to  the  present,  that  military 
service  ought  to  be  rendered  only  by  volunteers.  Washington 
differed  from  that  view  as  have  all  distinguished  military  men. 
Washington  took  the  position  that  men  ought  to  be  drafted.  He 
found,  early  in  the  Revolutionary  days,  that  he  could  not  depend 
on  volunteers.  The  Continental  Congress  did  undertake  a  draft 
law,  but  they  had  no  power  to  enforce  it. 

Kentucky,  in  its  practical  wisdom  and  foresight,  undertook 
to  enforce  a  draft  law,  but  it  was  ineffective,  because  it  didn't 
place  the  responsibility  on  all  alike.  The  fact  is  that  there 
has  not  been  a  prominent  military  character  since  the  founda- 
tion of  the  republic  who  has  not  held  that  it  would  be  neces- 
sary in  a  protracted  war  to  conscript  the  young  men  of  the 
country. 

I  do  not  look  upon  the  draft  as  a  disgrace ;  the  registration 
list  is  an  honor  roll;  it  is  a  certificate  of  fitness,  a  certificate  of 
strength  and  virility,  and  the  certificate  that  the  drafted  man  gets 
is  a  badge  of  honor  telling  the  world  that  he  has  been  called  as 
a  fit  subject  for  the  service  of  his  country. 

How  has  it  worked  ?  Take  it  in  my  own  State,  and  it  is  true 
of  other  States.  Acting  on  the  theory  that  to  be  taken  under  the 
selective  draft  was  a  disgrace  to  a  man,  many  volunteered.  They 
did  not  want  to  wait  for  the  draft,  and  we  had  to  draft  only  about 
five  or  six  hundred  men  in  order  to  fill  Oregon's  quota,  and  if 
we  had  just  waited  a  few  days  longer,  we  would  not  have  had  to 
draft  any. 

What  was  the  result  ?  While  the  draft  law  takes  one  man  in 
ten  according  to  population  for  the  service  of  his  country,  the 


DEMOCRACY  IN  THE  PRESENT  CRISIS       103 

volunteer  system  sometimes  took  ten  out  of  ten  in  some  communi- 
ties without  regard  to  population,  with  the  result  that  agricultural 
life  was  disrupted ;  industrial  life  was  interfered  with ;  all  the 
young  men  on  the  farms  in  certain  places  left  to  volunteer  for  the 
service  of  their  country,  with  the  result  that  agricultural  life  was 
paralyzed.  In  industrial  life  many  young  men  laid  aside  the  chisel 
and  the  hammer  and  the  mallet  and  went  to  volunteer  in  the 
service  of  their  country,  with  the  result  that  industrial  life  was 
paralyzed.  Young  men  in  the  employ  of  public  utilities  laid  down 
their  implements  of  everyday  life  and  went  to  the  front,  and  they 
have  not  been  able  to  fill  their  places  yet,  although  the  gallant 
young  ladies  have  gone  out  to  the  farms  and  tried  to  fill  the  de- 
pleted ranks  so  far  as  they  could  do  so.  I  presume  the  same  is 
true  in  every  State  in  this  Union.  No  law  more  just  ever  graced 
the  statute  books  of  this  country  than  that  which  compels  its 
citizens,  men  and  women,  to  realize  that  as  one  of  the  duties 
incident  to  citizenship  is  the  duty  to  serve  the  country  in  any 
emergency  which  confronts  it.  There  is  no  higher  duty  that  any 
man  or  woman  can  be  called  upon  to  perform.  So,  we  have 
departed  from  tradition  with  reference  to  the  draft  law,  and  it 
was  not  an  easy  measure  to  get  through  because  of  old  time  pre- 
judice. Tradition,  my  friends,  is  oftentimes  more  honored  in  the 
breach  than  in  the  observance. 

You  of  New  York  have  departed  from  tradition  in  the  last 
six  months,  and  have  conferred  upon  the  women  of  your  State  the 
right  to  vote,  and  whether  your  action  was  right  or  wrong  makes 
no  difference.  This  is  a  country  where  the  majority  rules,  and 
whenever  the  majority  says  that  the  women  ought  to  be  enfran- 
chised, then  that  right  is  theirs,  no  matter  what  the  minority  may 
say;  but  you  have  departed  from  tradition,  just  the  same. 

Oregon,  that  splendid  State  from  which  I  hail,  has  violated 
nearly  all  the  traditions  in  governmental  policy.  The  difference 
between  the  Western  man  and  the  Eastern  man  is  that  the  West- 
ern man  is  willing  to  try  anything;  if  it  is  good  he  holds  to  it, 
and  if  he  does  not  like  it  he  gets  rid  of  it !  We  have  conferred 
upon  the  people  of  Oregon  the  right  to  enact  laws,  and  on  the 
other  hand,  to  veto  laws  which  the  Legislature  passes.  Conserva- 
tives said  that  would  destroy  the  civil  and  political  institutions  of 
the  State.  It  has  been  the  making  of  Oregon.  The  State  has 
grown  in  wealth  and  population.  Long  ago  we  gave  the  women 
the  right  to  vote.  They  have  purified  the  State  politically  and 
socially.  We  are  called  the  "legislative  experimental  State  of  the 
Union."  It  may  be  so,  but  we  find  the  staid  old  State  of  Massa- 
chusetts and  other  States  falling  in  line,  following  the  example 
of  Oregon.    It  was  a  distinguished  statesman  from  Massachusetts 


104   ONE  HUNDRED  PER  CENT  AMERICAN 

who  once  said  to  me,  "You  don't  hesitate  to  violate  any  tradition 
when  you  think  that  by  so  doing  you  will  strengthen  the  country's 
stand  among  the  nations  of  the  world."    And  so  we  do  not. 

When  we  come  to  talk  to  you  about  universal  military  train- 
ing, they  tell  us  that  is  contrary  to  tradition.  I  say  violate  it! 
Take  your  young  men  from  sixteen  or  eighteen  to  twenty-one  and 
train  them.  You  need  not  put  them  into  service  until  they  are 
twenty-one.  Train  them  from  the  time  they  are  sixteen  until 
they  are  twenty-one,  and  in  three  years  you  will  have  an  army 
that  can  conquer  any  nation  on  the  face  of  the  earth.  You  will 
not  by  such  course  have  done  any  violence  to  your  civic  or  political 
duties.  Let  us  do  that,  because,  as  has  been  said,  so  forcibly 
by  another  this  very  afternoon,  America,  unless  she  has  a  peace 
that  is  brought  about  by  victory,  will  have  a  dishonorable  peace, 
no  matter  who  makes  it. 

Now  we  need  the  help  of  you  people;  you  business  men  of 
New  York.  We  need  the  people  of  the  country  to  get  behind 
this  movement.  You  cannot  remain  in  your  counting  rooms  and 
in  your  offices  and  in  your  club  rooms,  and  bring  about  the  ac- 
complishment of  any  great  purpose.  You  have  got  to  get  behind 
it  with  all  your  power ;  you  have  got  to  give  the  Representatives 
of  New  York  in  the  Congress  of  the  United  States  to  understand 
that  the  man  who  is  not  for  America  is  against  America,  and 
retire  him.  They  are  doing  this  in  some  States  and  they  will  do 
it  in  others.  There  is  danger  now,  my  fellow-citizens,  that  the 
pacifist  and  German  propaganda  which  has  been  flooding  some 
parts  of  this  country  may  defeat  men  who  stand  for  prepared- 
ness, and,  if  all  happened  to  be  defeated  who  stand  for  prepared- 
ness, then  God  help  America ! 

So  that  if  you  believe  in  preparing  our  country  to  fight,  you 
ought  to  get  out  behind  this  movement.  Write  to  those  who 
represent  you  and  appeal  to  the  legislators  as  well  as  to  the  voters 
of  the  different  States  for  their  assistance  in  fighting  to  a  suc- 
cessful conclusion  the  greatest  war  in  the  history  of  the 
world. 

I  may  say  to  you,  and  I  think  I  speak  knowingly,  that  what 
I  have  attempted  to  do  in  Congress  to  assist  in  this  war,  has 
not  been  done  as  a  Democrat ;  it  has  been  attempted  to  be  done 
as  an  American  citizen.  I  have  had  men  say  to  me  that  the  in- 
vestigation that  the  Military  Affairs  Committee  of  the  Senate 
was  engaged  in  was  wrong  in  this  crisis.  Some  say  "You  dis- 
credit your  own  administration."  Others  say,  "You  imperil  the 
chances  of  our  country  for  success." 

As  to  the  first  charge,  if  that  were  the  only  consideration,  I 
would  say  "Amen,"  I  do  not  care  about  such  charge,  because 


DEMOCRACY  IN  THE  PRESENT  CRISIS       105 

if  there  is  anything  wrong  with  the  party  to  which  I  happen  to 
belong,  the  best  friend  of  the  administration  is  the  one  who  will 
show  inefficiencies  wherever  they  happen  to  exist. 

As  to  the  second  proposition,  I  say  that  it  doesn't  tend  to 
injure  our  country  to  insist  upon  honesty  and  efficiency.  The 
fact  is,  the  American  people  are  denying  themselves  everything. 
They  are  taxing  themselves  as  they  never  were  taxed  before. 
They  are  yielding  to  orders  of  the  Commander-in-Chief  of  the 
Army  and  Navy,  sometimes  with  a  protest,  but  in  the  last  analysis, 
with  willingness  to  do  whatever  is  necessary  to  win ;  and  the  men 
and  women  who  are  making  these  sacrifices  are  entitled  to  know 
that  the  money  that  they  are  putting  up  and  the  sacrifices  they 
are  making  in  blood  and  in  treasure  are  being  made  in  the  interest 
of  the  American  people. 

Now,  that  is  what  the  Senate  Committee  is  trying  to  do,  and 
that  is  what,  with  the  help  and  assistance  of  the  American  people, 
that  Committee  is  going  to  do,  no  matter  what  happens.  Already, 
work  of  all  kinds  is  speeding  up.  Inefficients  in  every  department 
are  gradually  stepping  aside.  Unfortunately  some  who  have  been 
proven  inefficient,  instead  of  being  retired  to  positions  of  innocu- 
ous desuetude,  are  being  elevated  to  higher  places.  Fortunately, 
they  are  being  put  in  places  where  they  cannot  do  very  much 
harm.  What  America  wants  in  this  crisis  is  young  blood.  She 
wants  fighting  blood.  What  America  wants  is  efficiency  in  every 
department,  and  men  at  the  head  who  will  take  inefficiency  by 
the  neck  and  shake  it  out  of  the  administration.  England  tried 
it  with  success,  and  we  are  going  to  do  it.  And  if  we  fail  to  do  it, 
the  American  people  are  going  to  know  where  the  responsibility 
for  it  rests. 

There  is  a  lack  of  coordination  and  a  lack  of  efficiency  in  the 
War  Department  and  the  present  administration  is  not  entirely  to 
blame  for  it.  I  am  not  criticizing  the  administration ;  I  am  criticiz- 
ing a  system  which  has  come  down  to  us  from  the  fathers.  The 
principal  trouble  is,  that  decisions  of  solicitors  of  bureaus,  con- 
trollers of  one  department  or  another,  auditors  of  the  different 
branches  of  the  government,  have  rolled  up  a  ball  of  red  tape  so 
intricate  that  when  one  starts  out  to  do  anything  and  under- 
takes to  unroll  this  ball  of  red  tape,  it  is  like  getting  through  a 
labyrinthine  maze. 

I  saw  a  paper  the  other  day  that  might  have  been  answered 
by  the  first  man  to  whom  it  was  presented.  It  had  twenty-one 
endorsements  on  it.  It  was  referred  to  one  officer  who  put  an 
endorsement  on  it.  It  was  sent  to  another  department  where 
it  received  another  endorsement,  and  so  on,  until  the  twentieth 
endorsement  simply  stated  that  the  first  endorser  was  correct, 


106       ONE  HUNDRED  PER  CENT  AMERICAN 

and  when  it  finally  got  down  to  the  twenty-first  endorsement,  the 
statement  was  simply  this :    "You  are  right." 

We  are  trying  to  cut  tape  that  has  been  in  process  of  enroll- 
ment for  a  hundred  years  or  more.  And  how  are  we  going  to 
do  it?    By  simply  applying  the  knife  fearlessly  and  effectually. 

Here  we  have  this  peculiar  condition:  there  were  different 
bureaus  in  the  War  Department  bidding  against  each  other  for 
supplies.  There  were  different  bureaus  in  the  Navy  Department 
bidding  against  each  other  for  the  same  supplies  ;  in  the  same  field, 
at  the  same  time,  for  the  same  commodities !  What  is  the  inevi- 
table result?  Higher  prices  and  unequal  distribution.  If  there 
was  not  enough  to  go  around,  there  ought  to  have  been  and  ought 
to  be  now  a  coordinating  agency  with  power  to  take  all  of  a  com- 
modity and  then  distribute  it  according  to  the  needs  of  the  dif- 
ferent departments.  There  is  no  other  way  to  get  proper 
results. 

Now,  the  Military  Committee,  as  the  result  of  its  hearings, 
has  undertaken  to  put  the  supply  departments  of  the  whole  Gov- 
ernment under  one  responsible  head  to  be  appointed  by  the  Presi- 
dent who  is  to  be  known  as  the  Munitions  Director  and  has  pre- 
pared a  bill  for  that  purpose.  He  can  utilize  any  or  all  of  the 
present  organizations  of  all  the  bureaus  and  departments — all  or 
any  or  none  of  them,  just  as  he  sees  fit — for  coordinating  the 
purchases  of  supplies  of  all  kinds;  but  in  the  last  analysis,  that 
man  is  to  be  the  responsible  head,  and  then  if  anything  goes 
wrong,  the  people  can  put  their  fingers  on  the  man  who  is  re- 
sponsible for  it.    That  is  what  we  are  going  to  try  to  do. 

Let  me  illustrate  by  one  simple  instance  the  evils  that  should 
be  remedied.  Take  the  ducking  that  is  used  in  large  quantities 
by  the  Army  and  the  Navy.  When  the  supply  was  short,  it  hap- 
pened that  both  the  Army  and  the  Navy  needed  it,  but  the  Navy, 
which  had  a  better  organization  than  the  Army,  purchased  the 
entire  supply,  paying  whatever  price  was  asked.  I  do  not  mean 
to  suggest  that  they  paid  an  unfair  price,  but  to  show  that  under 
a  bad  system  one  branch  of  the  Government  got  it  all,  while 
the  Army  had  to  go  without.  They  have  had  to  organize  the  in- 
dustry in  this  particular  commodity,  in  order  that,  instead  of  three 
million  yards,  we  could  manufacture  eighty-five  million  yards, 
which  is  necessary  for  all  these  departments,  and  see  to  its  proper 
distribution. 

If  we  had  one  responsible  head  to  take  up  the  subject  of  buy- 
ing and  distributing  these  supplies,  we  would  get  better  and 
speedier  results. 

But  the  Committee  has  gone  further  than  that.  I  do  not  know 
where  we  are  going  to  land,  but  we  are  going  to  try,  for  as  a 


DEMOCRACY  IN  THE  PRESENT  CRISIS       107 

business  proposition,  it  seemed  to  be  right.  We  are  going  to 
report  out  a  bill  in  a  few  days  creating  a  War  Cabinet. 

I  want  you  to  know  that  these  measures  have  not  been  pre- 
pared on  the  spur  of  the  moment.  We  have  been  working  on 
them,  some  of  us,  eighteen  hours  a  day  for  many  days,  and  have 
been  basing  our  action  on  the  experience  of  other  countries  in 
coordinating  the  efforts  of  the  Government  and  planning  for  a 
prosecution  of  the  War. 

Great  Britain  and  France  were  groping  in  the  dark  for  the 
first  years  of  the  war;  and,  as  a  result  of  their  effort  to  create 
an  efficient  war  programme,  they  created  War  Cabinets.  Some 
of  the  members  hold  portfolios,  while  others  do  not,  and  they 
devote  all  of  their  time  to  formulating  plans  for  the  future. 
And  so  we  have  this  in  view  without  in  any  way  authorizing  the 
War  Cabinet  to  interfere  in  the  least  with  the  constitutional 
powers  of  the  President,  but  making  it  under  him  and  subject 
to  his  direction. 

The  business  man  who  sits  down  in  his  office  and  does  not 
look  forward  and  arrange  for  the  future  had  better  get  out  of 
business  while  he  has  any  capital  left.  He  must  look  months 
ahead  and  provide  for  expansion  and  the  manufacturer  of  goods 
for  the  western  and  other  markets  must  make  estimates  for  not 
only  six  months  ahead,  but  a  year  ahead  if  deliveries  are  not  to 
be  made  until  the  expiration  of  that  time.  Why  not  apply  busi- 
ness methods  to  the  administration  of  governmental  affairs? 
Great  Britain  and  France  had  to  come  to  it  in  order  to  get  effi- 
ciency. America  has  been  groping  in  the  dark  for  the  last  ten 
months,  with  able  enough  heads,  but  with  no  responsible  head 
for  coordinating  the  war  programme.  Now,  America  must  fol- 
low in  the  footsteps  of  her  allies  in  order  to  coordinate  the  in- 
strumentalities of  government,  and  plan  for  future  emergencies. 
If  not  by  the  system  here  suggested  then  in  some  other  effective 
way  and  that  too  by  legislation. 

I  hope  I  shall  not  be  guilty  of  treason  if  I  suggest  to  you  that 
in  my  humble  opinion,  there  was  no  need  for  the  coal  shortage 
now  upon  us  if  a  plan  had  been  mapped  out  six  months  ago.  I 
do  know  this,  that  when  the  discussion  about  coal  came  up  here 
some  time  last  summer,  it  was  brought  to  the  attention  of  every 
man  in  the  country,  because  it  was  printed  in  the  newspapers  that 
coal  production  was  increasing  up  to  a  certain  point,  when  one 
administrative  branch  of  the  Government  fixed  a  price  after  con- 
ference with  the  operators  which  seemed  to  be  satisfactory.  Now, 
that  price  didn't  stop  production.  The  chart  showed  that  there 
was  still  an  ascending  line  of  production ;  but,  when  another  de- 
partment reduced  the  price  to  a  point  where  it  could  not  be 


108   ONE  HUNDRED  PER  CENT  AMERICAN 

produced  except  at  a  loss,  the  line  of  production  commenced  to 
descend,  with  the  result  that  there  was  no  coal  produced  and  an 
inevitable  shortage  such  as  we  now  have  followed. 

I  sustained  the  action  of  the  President  and  the  Fuel  Adminis- 
tration in  regard  to  the  use  of  coal.  I  was  one  of  the  nineteen 
Senators  who  did  so.  Why?  I  did  not  think  it  was  a  wise  order, 
but  it  developed  in  the  course  of  the  investigation  before  the 
Military  Affairs  Committee  that  there  were  127  ships  in  the  port 
of  New  York  that  could  not  carry  supplies  to  the  Allies  because 
they  did  not  have  coal.  I  had  no  other  information  about  it,  but 
I  proposed  to  put  life  above  property  so  long  as  we  have  boys  in 
the  front  in  Europe,  and  wanted  to  see  those  ships  supplied  at  all 
hazards. 

One  of  the  functions  of  this  War  Cabinet  which  we  propose  is 
to  map  out  programs  for  the  future,  so  that  if  there  is  likely 
to  be  a  shortage  in  the  production  of  artillery,  ordnance  and  guns, 
or  anything  else  necessary  for  carrying  on  the  war,  provision  may 
be  made  to  meet  it  and  for  the  proper  distribution  of  production. 

Every  man  can  make  estimates  for  the  future.  We  have  not 
had  any  reliable  estimates  yet  for  six  months  or  a  year  in  ad- 
vance, but  before  another  year  passes  by,  I  predict  that  efforts 
will  be  made  not  only  to  estimate  with  practical  certainty  what  the 
needs  of  our  country  are  likely  to  be,  but  how  distribution  of 
all  necessities  shall  be  made,  and  in  addition  thereto,  there  will 
be  some  method  adopted  for  coordinating  governmental  as  well  as 
industrial  life. 

I  want  to  say  for  our  distinguished  President  that  in  this 
crisis  he  is  the  Premier  of  all  the  world  in  ability.  His  statements 
are  looked  upon  in  Europe  as  the  statements,  and  properly  so, 
of  a  very  great  man;  but  neither  he  nor  any  other  one  man  can 
take  all  of  these  problems  and  accomplish  all  that  is  expected. 
There  must  be  responsible  heads  of  his  own  choosing  under  him, 
to  do  what  is  necessary  to  be  done  in  order  to  see  America  safely 
through  this  war.  I  am  not  a  pessimist,  but  I  know  the 
policies  of  war,  the  implements  of  war,  the  methods  of 
warfare,  all  may  change  and  all  do  change ;  but  rules  of  strategy 
never  change.  We  see  the  most  efficient  military  power  on  the 
face  of  the  globe  following  a  well  known  rule  of  strategy,  that  of 
concentrating  its  forces  on  what  it  thinks  are  the  weak  points  of 
the  Allies,  and  America,  if  she  would  save  her  Allies,  must  get 
on  the  ground  with  the  men  and  money  and  means  to  success- 
fully help  them  at  these  supposedly  weak  points. 

If  there  is  any  country  on  the  face  of  the  globe  to  which 
America  is  indebted,  it  is  that  country  on  whose  soil  the  battles 
are  waging.     America  ought,  without  hesitation  and  as  quickly 


DEMOCRACY  IN  THE  PRESENT  CRISIS       109 

as  possible,  to  go  to  her  relief  with  millions  of  men.  When 
Washington  through  our  representatives  appealed  to  France  in 
1 78 1,  and  told  her  that  he  did  not  have  money  to  pay  the  men 
who  were  hauling  supplies  to  his  army,  and  asked  for  assistance, 
France  gave  the  money,  not  only  in  hundreds  of  thousands,  but  in 
millions,  more  money  than  we  are  taxing  ourselves  now  as  com- 
pared with  the  difficulty  of  obtaining  money  and  the  scarcity  of 
wealth,  as  compared  with  our  own  day  and  generation.  Not 
only  did  she  do  this,  but  she  sent  Rochambeau  with  five  or  six 
thousand  trained  soldiers  to  America  and  these  landed  at  New- 
port after  seventy-seven  days  of  tremendous  suffering,  and  dodg- 
ing the  British  fleet,  to  do  or  to  die  for  America. 

And  now,  while  it  took  them  seventy-seven  days  to  get  over 
here  and  they  came,  and  it  takes  us  ten  or  twelve  days  at  the  out- 
side to  get  our  men  over  there,  why,  in  God's  name,  cannot  we 
reciprocate  the  splendid  work  of  France?  But  that  is  not  all. 
Cornwallis  was  concentrating  his  troops  at  Yorktown.  He  was 
confronted  by  Lafayette  with  his  tatterdemalion  and  barefooted 
colonists.  The  British  commander  was  at  New  York  getting 
ready  to  embark  his  troops,  to  supplement  the  force  that  Corn- 
wallis had  at  Yorktown,  and  Washington  called  on  Rochambeau 
to  come  to  his  relief.  He  started  on  the  long  march  from  New- 
port to  join  Washington's  forces  at  Yorktown,  and  successfully 
accomplished  the  junction. 

While  this  was  going  on,  De  Grasse,  the  French  Admiral,  who 
was  at  the  Bermudas,  with  positive  instructions  to  convoy  mer- 
chant ships  from  Bermuda  to  France,  violated  these  orders,  came 
into  Chesapeake  Bay  with  ships  and  men  and  prevented  Corn- 
wallis from  escaping.  Washington  himself  later  gave  it  as  his 
opinion  that  but  for  the  relief  that  France  gave  in  the  war  of  the 
Revolution,  America  might  not  have  been  able  to  achieve  her 
Independence.  The  debt  of  gratitude  that  America  owes  to 
France  should  and  will  be  repaid  to  her  in  money  and  blood. 

America  is  getting  ready  to  do  it.  America  is  going  to  do  it. 
But  America  must  speed  up  the  programme  she  has  in  progress, 
and  that  too  at  the  earliest  possible  moment,  and  every  American 
citizen  owes  it  to  himself,  to  his  country  and  to  his  loyal  Allies 
across  the  water  to  do  all  in  his  power  to  speed  the  program 
and  to  accomplish  some  results,  so  that  America  can  play  her  part 
in  this  great  war  that  is  threatening  not  only  republics  and  em- 
pires, but  threatening  civilization  itself. 


110       ONE  HUNDRED  PER  CENT  AMERICAN 


FOUR:   BY  HONORABLE  JULIUS  KAHN 

Member  of  Congress 

It  is  a  surprising  thing,  when  one  begins  to  study  the  present 
situation,  how  this  country  has  drifted  along  all  these  years,  as  if 
the  people  were  living  in  a  fool's  paradise.  In  the  Spanish- 
American  War  we  had  some  experiences  that  ought  to  have  taught 
Americans  some  lessons;  but  we  went  on  in  a  haphazard  way, 
making  money  and  money  and  money,  and  we  didn't  care  about 
our  own  country  and  its  preparedness. 

What  is  the  crying  need  of  the  hour?  Ships.  Ships,  to  trans- 
port our  men  and  our  supplies  across  the  ocean.  I  can  remember 
in  1907  when  some  of  us  were  making  an  effort  to  produce  ships. 
We  were  defeated  by  just  one  vote.  We  tried  to  put  through  a 
Mail  Subsidy  Law.  We  had  subsidized  four  ships,  if  you  remem- 
ber, before  the  Spanish-American  War,  and  when  the  war  came 
those  ships  were  converted  into  auxiliary  cruisers,  and  they  did 
magnificent  work,  in  conjunction  with  the  navy,  for  the  American 
arms.  In  1907  we  presented  a  concrete  proposition  for  the  estab- 
lishment of  seven  routes  upon  the  Atlantic  and  the  Pacific  to 
South  America  and  to  the  Orient.  Between  five  and  six  million 
dollars  a  year  would  have  been  expended  in  mail  subsidies  if  that 
law  had  been  enacted.  It  would  have  cost  us,  up  to  the  present 
time,  about  sixty  million  dollars,  but  we  would  have  had  thirty 
or  forty  ships.  And  now  we  are  appropriating  one  billion  dollars 
to  build  some  three  thousand  and  five  thousand  ton  ships  that  will 
probably  have  to  go  on  the  scrap-heap  when  the  war  is  over. 

I  suppose  the  gentlemen  who  voted  against  the  ship  subsidy 
or  mail  subsidy  at  that  time  prided  themselves  on  the  fact  that 
they  saved  the  American  people  five  million  dollars  a  year !  That 
is  the  way  they  say  it.  Oh,  how  expensive,  how  awfully  ex- 
pensive, that  five  million  dollars  a  year  has  become!  If  we  had 
spent  that  money,  we  should  be  sending  our  men  and  our  supplies 
in  an  undiminished  stream  to  the  other  side. 

Are  we  going  to  learn  any  lessons  from  this  war?  In  the 
Committee  on  Military  Affairs  of  which  I  am  a  member — and  I 
don't  suppose  I  violate  any  confidence — we  have  men  who  really 
are  speaking  about  disarmament  and  the  return  to  our  former 
policy  of  drifting  when  this  war  is  over.  All  honor  to  Senator 
Chamberlain  for  the  work  that  he  has  done ! 

You  know,  we  do  things  in  a  funny  way  out  west.  The  Sena- 
tor comes  from  a  Republican  State.  He  has  been  elected  by  Re- 
publican votes  and  he  is  a  Democrat!     In  my  District,  when  I 


DEMOCRACY  IN  THE  PRESENT  CRISIS        111 

first  ran  for  Congress,  I  had  8,000  Democratic  majority.  At  the 
election  of  last  November,  or  a  year  ago,  we  polled  65,000  votes. 
I  ran  on  the  Republican  ticket  and  got  52,000  out  of  the  65,000. 
So  that,  a  good  many  Democrats  out  there  voted  for  this  Republi- 
can, but  I  have  always  said,  ever  since  we  got  into  this  war, 
this  is  the  time  when  party  politics  must  be  subordinated  to 
Americanism.  We  must  all  be  Americans  first  and  partisans 
afterwards. 

We  have  many  great  problems,  as  the  Senator  pointed  out. 
We  need  the  backing  of  the  people  at  home  to  carry  them  out. 
The  boys  in  the  field  must  understand  that  the  American  people 
are  behind  them. 

I  can  readily  see  a  condition  that  would  be  very  unfortunate 
for  this  country.  The  pacifist,  the  propagandist,  is  altogether  too 
much  in  evidence  in  these  trying  times.  The  men  who  are  sowing 
seeds  of  sedition  and  treason,  the  enemies  within,  ought  to  be 
brought  up  with  a  round  turn.  If  the  people  here,  if  some  people 
in  these  United  States,  who,  in  the  days  of  peace,  have  had  all  the 
opportunities  which  our  country  gives,  are  not  willing  to  stand 
behind  it  with  heart  and  soul  in  this  great  struggle,  in  Heaven's 
name,  let  them  get  out  of  the  country.  We  don't  want  any  of 
that  kind  here.  There  is  no  room  for  them  and  there  should  be 
no  room  for  them  in  this  country. 

Congress  will  be  called  upon  to  legislate  for  our  armies  and 
for  the  navy.  Watch  the  votes  of  your  Representatives.  See 
that  those  who  represent  you  stand  solidly  and  firmly  for  Ameri- 
can rights.  That  is  what  we  are  fighting  for,  in  the  final 
analysis. 

This  is  the  fifth  time  that  we  have  gone  to  war  to  defend  the 
very  rights  we  are  defending  to-day.  Americans  don't  seem  to 
realize  that  almost  before  we  were  ten  years  old  as  a  nation,  be- 
fore we  had  passed  our  first  decade,  we  were  fighting  naval  bat- 
tles— no  land  battles  but  naval  battles — even  with  France  that  had 
been  our  friend  and  ally  during  the  Revolution,  because  she  un- 
dertook to  do  the  very  things  that  Germany  is  doing  to  us  to- 
day. She  seized  our  ships ;  she  sank  our  ships ;  she  drowned  our 
people;  she  made  them  prisoners;  and,  although  we  recognized 
all  that  we  owed  her,  Washington  himself  came  from  his  seclusion 
at  Mount  Vernon  and  took  command  of  the  American  force, 
ready  to  lay  down  his  life  if  need  be  for  American  rights. 

We  fought  that  war  for  two  years,  and  then  we  made  peace 
with  Napoleon  who  followed  the  Directorate  and  became  First 
Consul.  France  recognized  our  rights  on  the  high  seas,  and  we 
have  never  had  any  trouble  since  with  that  great  country. 

In  1801,  the  very  following  year,  we  fought  Tripoli,  Tunis 


112       ONE  HUNDRED  PER  CENT  AMERICAN 

and  Morocco.  Congress  declared  war  because  they  sank  our 
ships ;  they  seized  our  crews  and  sold  them  into  slavery ;  and  we 
wouldn't  stand  for  it.  We  sent  our  fleets  and  we  fought  that  war 
for  four  years  before  we  made  peace.  Pope  Pius  VII,  who  was 
then  on  the  Papal  throne,  said  that  America  in  those  four  years 
had  done  more  for  human  liberty  and  human  rights  than  all  the 
Christian  nations  of  Europe  put  together;  so  that,  the  present 
war  is  not  the  first  time  that  we  are  fighting  for  humanity.  That 
war  continued  for  four  years,  and  the  Barbary  pirates  recognized 
our  rights  on  the  seas. 

Then,  in  1812,  we  fought  England  the  second  time.  We 
fought  her  because  she  seized  our  men  on  our  merchant  vessels. 
We  fought  that  war  for  two  years.  It  is  not  necessary  to  recite 
the  details  of  it  now,  but  we  made  a  treaty  with  her  and  since 
that  time  she  has  never  interfered  with  our  rights. 

In  181 5  we  fought  our  fourth  war  for  those  rights  at  sea.  We 
fought  Algeria.  Commodore  Decatur  was  sent  by  the  President 
across  the  ocean  with  a  fleet  of  ships  to  defend  the  American  na- 
tion against  the  Algerian  pirates,  Decatur,  the  man  who  said, 
"Our  country,  in  her  intercourse  with  foreign  nations  may  she 
always  be  right ;  but  our  country,  right  or  wrong."  And  we  de- 
feated the  Algerians  and  we  made  a  treaty  of  peace  with  her 
under  which  she  agreed  that  American  ships  could  go  anywhere 
on  the  high  seas  where  they  had  a  right,  under  international  law, 
to  go. 

And  then  for  102  years,  we  had  no  further  trouble.  Our 
ships  had  the  right  to  go  everywhere  until  on  the  31st  of  January, 
1917,  the  Imperial  Government  of  Germany  served  notice  on  us 
that  on  the  very  next  day,  on  the  first  of  February,  she  would 
ruthlessly  sink  any  American  vessel  that  dared  to  go  beyond  a 
certain  line  on  the  high  seas  which  she,  herself,  drew,  and  beyond 
which  line,  under  international  law,  we  had  an  absolute  right  to 
go.  She  would  ruthlessly  destroy  such  ships,  and  perchance 
drown  those  aboard. 

We  didn't  declare  war,  even  then.  The  people  of  the  Ameri- 
can nation  have  always  been  slow  to  enter  into  war.  We  did  what 
we  did  in  the  French  situation.  We  sent  the  German  Ambassador 
home  and  we  recalled  our  own.  Congress  was  then  in  session. 
The  session  adjourned  on  the  4th  of  March  by  limitation.  Con- 
gress went  home,  and  there  was  no  declaration  of  war.  When 
we  had  been  gone  about  two  weeks,  Germany  carried  out  her 
threat.  She  sank  our  ships  and  she  drowned  our  people,  and  no 
red-blooded  American  citizen  was  willing  to  stand  by  after  that. 
We  were  ready  to  fight,  and  we  have  got  to  fight  to  lick  the 
enemy.    There  must  be  no  half-hearted  business  about  it.    Our 


DEMOCRACY  IN  THE  PRESENT  CRISIS       113 

victory,  as  the  Senator  said,  has  got  to  be  absolute  and  com- 
plete. If  we  don't  attain  that  kind  of  a  victory,  the  German 
propagandists  in  the  Latin-American  Republics,  in  my  opinion, 
will  stir  up  such  strife  and  such  hatred  and  such  animus  against 
Americans  that  we  will  have  constant  trouble  with  the  very  na- 
tions that  ought  to  be  our  allies  for  all  time.  We  can  see  what 
they  have  been  doing;  we  know  what  they  have  been  doing;  the 
very  things  that  I  spoke  about. 

About  these  ships  which  we  needed :  Who  defeated  that  legis- 
lation? It  all  comes  to  us  now,  when  we  think  back  about  it. 
At  that  time  the  agent  of  the  Hamburg- American  Line  right  here 
in  this  city  printed  arguments  right  in  your  daily  papers  in  this 
city,  why  that  law  should  not  be  written  upon  our  statute  books. 
Many  men  in  Congress  took  his  arguments  to  defeat  the  law. 
We  can  see  why  he  wrote  those  arguments.  We  can  see  now 
why  he  printed  those  letters.  He  had  visions.  He  could  look 
a  long  way  ahead  into  the  future ;  and  unfortunately,  the  Ameri- 
can statesman  has  not  often  had  mental  vision. 

There  are  only  two  great  men  in  this  country  that  I  can  recall 
just  at  this  moment  who  had  the  foresight,  prescience,  to  look  into 
the  future.  One  of  them  was  your  own  great  statesman  from 
this  State,  William  H.  Seward.  And  so,  when  he  bought  Alaska, 
they  referred  to  it  as  "Seward's  Folly,"  "Seward's  Polar  Bear 
Garden."  Great  Scott!  Alaska  has  paid  for  itself  to  the  Union 
time  and  time  again,  and  the  wisdom  of  your  Seward  is  now 
thoroughly  appreciated  by  every  American. 

And  then,  we  had  a  man  in  the  west  who  had  vision,  who  had 
foresight,  who  realized  what  a  great  country  this  could  become 
with  that  great  western  territory.  I  refer  to  Benton  of  Missouri. 
You  know  what  Daniel  Webster  said :  "What  do  we  want  of  that 
vest,  worthless  area,  that  region  of  whirlwinds  of  dust  and  deserts 
of  sand,  of  cactus  and  prairie  dogs?"  Well,  we  have  almost  ex- 
terminated our  prairie  dogs,  and  the  cactus  in  the  western  states 
has  given  way  to  blossoming  gardens  and  magnificent  orchards, 
and  a  population  of  loyal,  patriotic,  warm-hearted  Americans  in- 
habit those  states  that  were  thus  derided  at  one  time  in  our  coun- 
try's history. 

We  have  got  to  have  vision,  and  the  statesman  to-day  who  is 
not  willing  to  make  provision  for  the  future  safety  of  this  country, 
as  the  Senator  said  to  you,  ought  to  be  forever  relegated  to  the 
obscurity  which  he  would  much  better  grace  than  a  seat  in  the 
House  of  Representatives  or  the  Senate. 

I  have  taken  up  too  much  of  your  time,  but  I  want  to  say  to 
you  that  it  has  been  a  great  pleasure  for  me  to  come  here  for  a 
lew  minutes  to  meet  the  men  who  are  doing  things  in  this  club. 


ill       ONE  HUNDRED  VFK  CENT  AMERICAN 

i 

trine*   They  ate 
t:  Ik 

s  on  the 

;     en  ■■  you 

-.  oi    \. 
i  books  oi  I  h  Republic  - 


FIVE       PRINCI   I  AZAROVICH 

/    .s 

;.  nest  -        Serbia      tm  a  simple  Set! 

...  .        . 

...  t  same,  as  ] 

Voa  se<  ces      s        ght  at  1 

Napoleon       s  French  A 
...  ethis<  ... 

-  ■         -   ■  ■     •..-.>    ,v:r.c    to   this   cc     i 

e  of  mys* 
spec  5  I  unders  k  Mis 

.   occa- 

i  gathering;  and  one  nembers 

rase  Goon      -  -  ne  to 

it  I  s  evening  ik  it 

\s 

-  said      this  < 

-  .  >c  -  else's      ghts — too 
is     s                                 .   .  s 

I    c :       \  D      .  ■   -    - 

soc  c  . 


DEMOCRACY  IN  THE  PRESENT  CRISIS        115 

I  mentioned  yesterday  a  very  interesting  thing.  I  must  tell 
you,  I  have  been  connected  in  Europe  from  [894  011  to  1905  with 
the  Macedonian  Revolutionary  Commit  tee-,,  having  been  there  as 
their  representative,  and  really,  I  was  the  "boss  of  the  show"  as 
you,  in  good  Manhattanese,  express  it.  During  that  time  I  had 
dealings  with  the  Foreign  Offices  in  Europe  and  made  quite  an 
enormous  amount  of  acquaintances  with  people  who  are  very 
well  informed.  Some  of  those  people  sometimes  come  from  the 
under-current.     It  is  a  secret  service. 

In  the  beginning  of  1914  I  met  a  man  here  who  just  came 
across  to  New  York,  and  the  man — I  knew  him  in  Europe  and  I 
knew  him  as  a  man  extraordinarily  well  informed — told  me  the 
following  story:  He  told  me  that  the  British  Secret  Service  a 
few  weeks  before  had  made  a  huge  haul  of  interesting  corre- 
spondence in  China,  and  that  the  story  contained  in  that  corre- 
spondence, which  not  only  was  a  correspondence  of  the  moment 
but  stretched  back  to  years  back,  up  to,  I  believe,  1904  or  1905, 
dwelt  with  preparations  and  plans  and  exchange  of  ideas  between 
Germany  and  another  power  for  this  war.  It  dwelt  with  and 
showed  how,  during  that  time,  the  treatment,  at  least,  the  rela- 
tions, between  the  countries,  how  Germany,  especially  Germany, 
through  its  diplomatic  representatives,  tried  to  keep  England  out 
of  this  conflict.  There  idea  was  to  first  go  over  on  the  Balkans, 
because  that  is  the  door  to  the  East ;  then  to  throw  down  France 
and  Russia  and  Italy,  and  when  that  is  done,  when  that  has  been 
accomplished  in  Europe,  and  one  central  power  erected  in  Europe, 
then  to  tackle  Great  Britain  and  this  country. 

In  1914,  before  the  outbreak  of  this  war,  it  was  intended  to 
include  this  country  and  to  tackle  this  country  and  to  conquer  it. 
At  that  time,  that  same  gentleman  told  me  that — now,  what  I 
will  tell  you  will  perhaps  surprise  you,  but  I  am  not  a  pro-Ger- 
man; my  poor  country  has  suffered  enough  from  them  not  to 
make  me  a  pro-German  and  not  to  admire  Kaiser  Bill — but  the 
story  which  was  told  is  this:  that  from  1913  on,  Austria  and  a 
certain  party  in  Germany  tried  to  force  Germany  to  support 
Austria  in  her  war-aggressive  policy ;  that  it  was  Emperor  Wil- 
liam who  refused,  saying  "Germany  is  not  yet  prepared."  He 
thought  that  Germany  would  not  be  prepared  to  undertake  any 
kind  of  a  world  war  before  1916.  You  must  know  it  is  the  old 
question  between  the  Hohenzollerns  and  the  Hapsburgs.  If  the 
Hehenzollerns  would  have  been  allowed  to  begin  the  war  at  their 
date,  1916,  the  Hapsburgs  would  have  been  wiped  out.  If  the 
1914  date  was  chosen,  with  Germany's  preparation  not  quite  com- 
plete, and  Austria  ready,  after  her  preparation  in  the  Balkan 
Wars,  it  was  believed  in  Germany  that  Austria  would  be  the  upper 


116   ONE  HUNDRED  PER  CENT  AMERICAN 

dog  in  the  combination.  The  one  man  in  the  way  in  Austria, 
that  is,  dangerous  to  the  dynastic  ambitions  of  the  Hapsburgs, 
was  Francis  Ferdinand,  because  he  had  come  in  1913  to  the  con- 
clusion that  it  might  be  possible  by  evolutionary  means  to  solve 
the  Eastern  question,  and  by  revolutionary  means  in  Russia  to 
solve  the  Russian  question  and  get  Poland  and  Serbia  under 
Austrian  rule. 

He  told  me  at  that  time  that  the  assassination  of  Francis 
Ferdinand  had  been  decided  upon,  not  only  because  he  was  in  the 
way  of  the  aggressive  policy  of  the  Hapsburg  family,  but  because 
his  assassination  would  be  the  one  means  to  throw  Emperor  Wil- 
liam into  the  war. 

And  he  told  a  lot  of  stories  further  of  what  this  correspon- 
dence contains. 

If  I  remember  back  to  1891,  in  1891  I  had  been  at  that  time 
delegated  to  the  great  General  Staff  of  the  Austrian  Army  for 
service  with  them,  and  in  our  hands  came  for  study  a  document, 
a  memorandum  of  the  Reichstag  in  Berlin,  made  for  the  use  of 
the  Minister  of  Foreign  Affairs.  This  is  a  yearly  memorandum 
which  is  prepared  in  a  kind  of  routine  way,  but  this  time  that 
memorandum  was  considered  to  be  a  model  of  that  kind  of  work, 
and  it  was  given  to  us  to  study. 

This  memorandum  outlined  the  military  resources  of  Germany 
in  case  of  war,  the  political  condition  which  could  be  counted  on 
if  they  could  interfere  with  the  conduct  of  any  war.  Then  it 
began  to  sum  up  in  review  the  same  things  for  each  of  the  other 
countries  with  which  any  political  difficulties  may  arise.  France 
was  mentioned,  and  for  France  the  following  was  said:  Since 
1870  when  there  was  introduced  in  France  the  Military  Obliga- 
tory Service  Law,  the  French  army  had  been  improving,  and  was 
at  that  time,  1891,  at  the  highest  point  of  proficiency.  At  that 
time  the  Chief  of  Staff  was  Sleicher,  who  submitted  to  the  Chan- 
cellor of  the  Empire  a  warning  to  be  very  cautious  in  his  policy 
and  his  relations  with  France,  and  to  avoid  for  years  to  come  at 
least,  any  friction  which  might  lead  to  an  incident  which  could  be 
followed  by  a  declaration  of  war.  Then  came  a  rider  which  is 
interesting  and  the  rider  was  a  review  of  the  French  political  con- 
dition and  latent  opposing  political  opinions.  Then  it  also  re- 
ferred to  the  curious  condition  in  France  before  1870,  where  the 
army  during  the  Empire  had  been  more  or  less  put  aside  as  a 
kind  of  a  show  piece,  and  it  went  on  to  say :  "To-day  the  French 
Army  has  become  the  pride  of  the  nation,  and  it  might  be  possible 
and  it  is  suggested  to  the  Chancellor  of  the  Empire  on  the  Busi- 
ness of  Foreign  Affairs  of  Germany,  to  use  these  political  latent 
antagonisms,  to  use  them,  to  work  them  up,  and  if  possible,  to 


DEMOCRACY  IN  THE  PRESENT  CRISIS        117 

involve  the  army  with  them,  so  as  to  estrange  the  nation  from 
the  army." 

That  was  in  1891,  and  in  1901  the  French  Army  as 
a  fighting  force  scarcely  existed,  as  an  efficient  righting  force. 
The  men  were  held,  but  you  know  what  happened  at  the  outbreak 
of  the  war?  The  French  Army,  the  men,  were  equipped  with 
shoes  which  had  been  acquired  and  bought  in  1871  and  1872, 
and  from  that  moment  were  in  the  magazines. 

Before  beginning  this  war,  slowly,  everywhere,  propaganda 
such  as  that  included  in  that  memorandum,  had  been  sown  every- 
where, all  over  the  countries  which  were  destined  to  be  the  antag- 
onists of  the  Central  Powers.  If  you  go  a  little  bit  deeper — take 
simply  the  Russian  Revolution — now,  the  gentleman,  the  Dean 
of  the  University  of  Chicago,  spoke  of  Bolshevikism.  To  pro- 
nounce Bolshevikism  even  in  the  same  breath  as  the  western  ideas 
of  the  social  fabric  is  stretching  the  word  a  little  bit.  You  under- 
stand that  in  Russia  and  with  us  in  the  Balkans,  in  Serbia,  that  in- 
dividualism has  never  been  a  conscious  force  among  the  people. 
We  have  always  been  practically  cooperative  and  practically  com- 
munistic. The  basis  of  our  village  communities,  of  our  working- 
men's  unions,  is  cooperative  and  communistic,  and  the  same  is 
true  in  Russia.  The  very  basis  of  the  Russian  community  is  a 
communinistic  affair,  and  if  you  have  five  workingmen  in  Russia 
from  five  different  villages,  meeting  at  one  cross-point,  and  they 
should  all  be  carpenters,  those  men  will  form  a  workmen's  union 
and  they  will  go  to  seek  work  in  common.  If  only  two  men  are 
used  of  that  union,  well,  the  pay  of  those  two  men  will  suffice  to 
pay  the  five. 

Since  1861  in  Russia  a  form  of  evolution  has  slowly  worked 
itself  out.  You  had  fought  a  great  war  in  1861-1864,  really  on 
two  principles,  that  is,  the  federal  and  confederate  principle,  states 
rights  and  central  authority.  Here  you  have  exactly  the  same. 
The  whole  Russian  fabric  from  1861  on  was  absolutely  separate. 
Between  the  self-elected  judges  to  the  Zemstov  there  was  the 
Federal  Agent  which  was  the  central  government.  This  was  by 
reason  of  the  increase  of  population  which  became  an  economic 
question,  of  which  outside  interference  took  charge. 

The  idealism  of  the  Russian  common  man  was  excited  and  the 
program  given  him  in  Bolshevikism  will  not  remain  in  Russia. 
It  will  calm  and  settle  down.  That  is  a  phase.  A  firm  structure 
will  be  constituted  when  the  dream  passes  over,  but  here  in  this 
country,  in  England  and  everywhere,  money  is  their  god.  You 
were  the  agents  for  the  revolution  in  Russia.  I  was  for  the 
evolution  and  for  the  changing  of  certain  things  in  Russia. 

The  same  men,  the  same  money,  which  furnished  the  Russian 


118   ONE  HUNDRED  PER  CENT  AMERICAN 

Revolution,  which  paid  for  the  Russian  Revolution,  is  to-day 
working  and  has  been  working  in  France.  Here  it  is  the  same. 
You  have  pacifism  first  and  the  I.  W.  W.,  and  all  the  other  forms 
which  are  not  legitimate.  You  see,  even  socialism  can  become 
legitimate  to  a  certain  point,  and  there  are  other  movements  which 
are  legitimate.  But  there  are  movements  of  that  kind,  like  the 
People's  Council,  which  are  not  legitimate.  They  are  outside  of 
any  legitimate  democratic  development,  because  they  only  tend 
to  destruction.  Any  fool,  any  child,  can  destroy;  a  child  could 
put  fire  to  this  building ;  but  it  took  an  engineer  and  an  architect 
to  build  it  up.  And  in  this  country,  I  have  made  it  my  task,  I  look 
about,  knowing  the  mettle  of  the  enemy,  as  having  had  the  oc- 
casion to  study  in  his  war  schools,  and  then  having  had  the  oc- 
casion from  1894  until  this  day  to  be  considered  by  Austria- 
Hungary  to  be  its  bitterest  enemy.  You  have  only  to  read 
my  books  which  I  have  written,  published  in  this  country  by 
Scribners.  If  you  will  read  them,  and  aside  from  those  books, 
criticisms  published  here  in  the  newspapers,  in  which  I  am  told 
that  I  am  presumptuous  and  impertinent  and  bumptious,  and  I 
don't  know  what  else,  to  dare  to  speak  of  the  great  Hapsburg 
monarchy  in  the  way  as  I  do,  if  you  will  read  these  you  will 
be  able  to  follow  the  trend. 

It  will  interest  you,  perhaps,  that  the  man  who  has  been 
charged  by  the  Austrian  Government  to  gather  up  the  last  threads 
and  the  last  documents  for  the  Revolutionary  organization  who 
overthrew  Russia,  in  favor,  not  for  any  democratic  reform  in 
Russia,  but  to  facilitate  the  conquest  of  Russia  and  its  destruction 
and  to  facilitate  that  great  dream,  that  is,  the  accomplishment  of 
that  great  dream  of  world  domination,  that  man  is  in  this  country 
at  present.  He  was  pointed  out  to  me  by  a  countryman  of 
mine  who  knew  him  personally  and  who  had  been  in  Austria 
and  had  come  as  a  refugee  here  and  knew  exactly  where  he 
is;  that  man  is  here  in  this  country.  Up  to  now  I  haven't  even 
heard  that  this  man  had  been  watched  by  the  Secret  Service. 

Another  matter  I  will  only  touch.  There  is  a  very  insidious 
campaign  here.  The  first  one  is  to  find  fault  with  England,  that 
is,  make  it  out  that  the  moment  the  war  is  at  an  end,  you  will 
have  to  come  into  conflict  with  Great  Britain.  There  have  been 
certain  articles  printed  in  this  country,  very  insidious.  It  is  not 
on  the  surface,  and  especially  is  it  interesting  because  it  was 
Great  Britain  who  had  defeated  the  success  of  this  war  in  the 
beginning,  because,  if  Great  Britain  had  not  entered  into  the 
war, — the  Austrian  Ambassador  in  London  did  his  best  to  prevent 
Great  Britain  from  entering  that  war — France,  Russia  and  the 
rest  would  have  long  ago  been  defeated.     England  would  have 


DEMOCRACY  IN  THE  PRESENT  CRISIS        119 

had  her  turn  and  you  would  have  had  your  turn  here.  Now,  we 
have  Great  Britain  to  thank,  and  especially  at  this  moment,  be- 
cause her  fleet  has  kept  the  Germans  back  from  the  shore.  Great 
Britain  with  her  army  in  France  is  helping  the  valiant  French 
army  hold  the  line  until  you  are  ready  to  come  for  your  own  home 
defense. 

Already  you  can  see  the  trail  of  red,  already  you  can  see  the 
trail  coming  and  beginning  to  poison  your  minds,  with  one  intent, 
so  that  men  should  be  convinced  it  would  be  better  to  make  peace 
in  the  present  dark  hour.  You  must  make  your  minds  up  the 
victory  will  not  be  here  immediately.  Before  you  hear  of  a  vic- 
tory, you  will  hear  that  your  own  troops  have  got  a  confounded 
strong  licking.  That  does  not  mean  that  they  are  not  brave. 
They  are  untried.  I  speak  as  a  soldier.  They  are  untried  men, 
and  have  before  them  tried  men.  What  it  means  you  have  no 
idea.  We  consider  in  Europe  an  army  to  be  battle-ready  when  an 
army  has  twenty-five  years'  life  back  of  it  of  organization.  You 
can't  ask  from  your  troops,  so  fine,  so  brave,  so  willing,  they  may 
be,  you  can't  ask  to  have  that  smooth  working,  and  you  have  to 
expect  some  hard  hits  first;  but  don't  let  those  hard  hits  dis- 
courage you  and  lead  you  to  make  an  immature  peace.  If  that 
peace  is  made,  then  you  pay  the  piper,  and  so,  don't  be  afraid  and 
don't  think  that  you  are  fighting  anybody  else's  fight  than  your 
own;  and  make  your  mind  up  as  being  men  that  debts  in  your 
business  will  come,  situations  where  you  look  out  and  say,  well, 
is  it  better  for  me  to  close  up  or  go  to  the  wall,  or  tide  over  ?  I 
must  not  be  afraid  of  anything;  I  must  say,  if  the  break  must 
come,  I  am  honest  of  purpose,  I  am  honest  to  the  men  with  whom 
I  deal ;  but  I  must  win  out.    And  that  must  be  your  will. 


FOURTH   DISCUSSION 

JANUARY   TWENTY-SIXTH,    I918 
VARIED  ASPECTS  OF  THE  WAR 


VARIED  ASPECTS  OF  THE  WAR 


ONE:     BY  HONORABLE  WILLIAM  H.  SKAGGS 

One  of  the  encouraging  features  of  the  present  distressing 
situation,  which  I  have  observed  during  the  few  months  last  past, 
is  that  the  American  people  are  keen  to  get  information.  It  is 
well  that  we  are  making  progress  along  this  line,  because  it  is 
important  that  we  understand,  not  only  the  vital  issues  involved  in 
this  mighty  conflict,  but  that  we  also  understand  the  history,  the 
purposes  and  the  methods  of  the  people  with  whom  we  are  at 
war.  You  have  heard  it  said  that  in  the  beginning  of  the  Christian 
Era,  God  pronounced  a  curse  on  mankind.  If  that  be  true,  the 
German  people,  for  two  thousand  years,  have  furnished  evidence 
of  that  anathema. 

I  shall  not  speak  this  afternoon  touching  my  personal  opinions 
or  conclusions.  I  shall  limit  my  remarks  to  excerpts  from  his- 
tory, which,  in  my  opinion,  form  the  strongest  indictment  that 
could  be  made  against  the  German  nation  or  the  German  people. 
The  German  spy  system  and  bureau  of  propaganda  were  organ- 
ized in  this  country,  as  in  other  countries,  before  the  beginning 
of  the  present  atrocious  world  war.  Each  was  thorough  and 
efficient  in  its  work,  and  each  has  been  a  menace  to  the  life  of 
this  nation  for  more  than  three  years. 

One  phase  of  German  propaganda,  plausible  and  effective  in 
its  dangerous  subterfuge,  has  been  the  assertion  that  the  develop- 
ment of  German  industries  and  the  expansion  of  German  com- 
merce had  aroused  the  jealousy  and  apprehension  of  her  rivals 
in  world  trade,  England  in  particular.  And  it  has  been  charged 
that  her  unsuccessful  competitors  had  made  war  on  Germany 
for  the  purpose  of  destroying  a  dangerous  rival.  It  could  be 
easily  shown  that  these  charges  are  not  true.  I  speak  advisedly, 
with  due  appreciation  of  the  force  of  my  words  and  all  that  they 
mean,  when  I  say  that  Germany  has  utterly  failed  in  open  and 
legitimate  competition  and  that  her  success  has  been  due- largely  to 
her  cunning  and  her  corrupt  and  unsafe  business  methods.  But 
this  phase  of  Germanism  is  not  for  the  present  discussion. 

The  issues  in  this  war  are  not,  primarily,  economic,  nor  are 

123 


124       ONE  HUNDRED  PER  CENT  AMERICAN 

they  of  late  development.  They  are  social  and  political,  and 
they  come  within  the  broad  scope  of  moral  questions,  and  are, 
therefore,  fundamental.  They  are  as  old  as  civilization.  If  the 
issues  were  economic,  the  outcome  of  industrial  development  and 
commercial  progress,  they  would  ultimately  yield  to  the  usages 
of  diplomacy ;  but  as  they  are  organic  and  lie  at  the  foundation 
of  civilization  and  Christian  society,  they  are  not  matters  of  trade 
and  commerce,  and  cannot  be  adjusted  through  the  skill  of  the 
diplomat  nor  the  shrewdness  of  the  trader. 

Germany  has  tried  in  numerous  instances  and  divers  ways  to 
becloud  the  vital  issue ;  she  has  claimed  that  her  enemies  tried  to 
check  her  legitimate  and  proper  growth,  and  that  this  war  was 
essential  in  self-defense  as  a  matter  of  preservation  in  the  rapid 
increase  of  her  population,  the  development  and  expansion  of 
her  industries  and  commerce.  There  is  as  little  truth  in  this  as- 
sertion regarding  the  economic  feature  of  the  present  situation, 
as  there  has  been  in  many  false  moral  teachings  promulgated  by 
German  propagandists. 

While  safeguarding  her  home  markets  with  high  tariff  and 
other  protective  measures,  giving  industries  and  commerce  gov- 
ernmental support  with  subsidized  steamships  and  other  foster- 
ing agencies,  Germany  has  been  privileged  to  reach  the  markets 
of  the  world.  She  has  entered  English  markets  and  been  given 
the  opportunity  of  developing  colonies  that  were  presented  to  her. 
Her  people  have  been  privileged  and  encouraged  to  settle  in  every 
country  of  the  Western  Hemisphere  and  in  Africa. 

The  issues  are  not  economic,  but  in  truth,  moral  and  funda- 
mental. Moreover,  the  people  engaged  in  this  mighty  struggle 
of  civilization  are  arrayed  as  they  have  been,  with  few  exceptions, 
for  two  thousand  years.  The  difference  between  the  Central 
Powers  and  the  Allies  is  innate.  From  a  moral  and  social  point 
of  view  it  is  fundamental.  It  is  as  irreconcilable  as  the  difference 
was  between  the  Phoenicians  and  the  Greeks,  so  forcibly  and 
clearly  pointed  out  by  Plato,  more  than  four  hundred  years  before 
the  beginning  of  the  Christian  Era.  And  here  it  may  be  interest- 
ing to  note  that  the  Germans  may  be  likened  in  their  ideals, 
theories  and  practices  to  the  Phoenicians  of  antiquity.  In  many 
respects  a  comparison  is  striking.  We  have  been  told  that  the 
"Art  of  the  Phoenicians  was  both  cosmopolitan  and  commercial. 
Their  lack  of  originality  and  of  artistic  sense  made  it  easy  for 
them  to  turn  their  energies  to  copying  the  Arts  of  their  powerful 
neighbors,  especially  Egypt  and  Assyria,  and  to  cultivating  those 
branches  of  Art  that  were  merchantable  and  transportable."  The 
Phoenicians  can  be  traced  back  to  the  earliest  times.  They  built 
the  cities  of  Tyre  and  Sidon.    Moloch  was  their  chief  deity  and 


VARIED  ASPECTS  OF  THE  WAR  125 

to  him  children  and  captives  were  sacrificed.  He  was  the  chief 
deity  of  Carthage,  a  great  commercial  city,  that  at  one  time  had  a 
population  of  1,260,000. 

A  large  part  of  northwest  Africa  was  colonized  from 
Phoenicia.  Carthage  was  a  great  commercial  center.  Her  fleet 
traded  with  northern  Europe  and  southern  Africa.  Herodotus 
said  that  the  Phoenician  cities  distributed  to  the  rest  of  the  world 
the  wares  of  Egypt  and  Babylonia.  Ezekiel  spoke  of  their  won- 
derful prosperity  and  Jeremiah  prophesied  their  downfall.  We 
are  told  "in  the  Greek  world  the  Phoenicians  made  themselves 
heartily  detested.  Their  characteristic  passion  for  gain  was  not 
likely  to  ingratiate  them  with  those  who  were  compelled  to  use 
their  services  while  they  suffered  from  their  greed."  Cato  saw 
and  appreciated  these  things  and  he  wisely  admonished  the 
Romans  that  Carthage  should  be  destroyed.  Civilization  feels  the 
need  of  a  Cato  in  the  present  crisis. 

The  Germans  are  very  much  like  the  Phoenicians  of  antiquity 
and  between  them  and  the  civilized  and  cultivated  peoples  of 
the  present  age  there  can  be  no  compromise,  no  common  ground 
on  social  and  political  questions.  If  one  survive,  the  other  must 
perish.  The  sooner  we  awake  to  this  great  truth,  the  sooner  we 
shall  feel  more  secure  in  our  own  existence  and  in  preserving  our 
government  and  conserving  the  institutions  under  which  we  live. 

We  are  at  war  with  a  race  of  barbarians  who  never  have  ob- 
served any  rules  of  civilized  warfare,  who  are  without  any  sense 
of  honor  or  chivalry,  and  who  have  no  code  of  ethics. 

The  social  and  political  antithesis  of  English  institutions  is 
found  in  the  self-abasement  of  that  aggregation  of  vandals,  rob- 
bers and  murderers,  known  in  international  politics  as  the  Im- 
perial German  Government.  The  antipodes  of  civilization,  as  ex- 
pressed in  the  institutions,  policies  and  practices  of  Great  Britain, 
France,  Belgium,  Italy  and  the  United  States,  is  found  in  the 
theories  and  practices  of  the  people  who  support  the  German 
Government.  It  is  the  eternal  struggle  between  might  and  right. 
The  fetish  worship  of  the  dangerous  and  superstitious  doctrine 
of  "divine  right"  against  the  will  of  the  people  which  should 
be  and  is  the  supreme  law  of  the  land  of  all  English  speaking 
peoples. 

Fifty  years  after  the  Barons  of  England  forced  King  John  to 
grant  the  Great  Charter,  there  assembled  the  first  English  Parlia- 
ment. A  few  years  later  the  House  of  Hapsburg  first  appeared 
in  history  and  one  hundred  and  forty-two  years  later  we  find  the 
earliest  record  of  the  House  of  Hohenzollern.  During  this  period 
of  nearly  seven  centuries,  the  history  of  Europe  has  been  a  strug- 
gle between  the  forces  of  absolutism  and  barbarism,  as  repre- 


126       ONE  HUNDRED  PER  CENT  AMERICAN 

sented  by  Germanic  races  of  the  Holy  Roman  Empire  on  one  side, 
and  the  forces  of  humanity,  civilization  and  democracy,  as  repre- 
sented by  the  English,  and  later  the  French,  Belgian,  Dutch, 
Scandinavian  and  Italian  peoples,  on  the  other  side.  During  this 
long  period  the  Germans  have  made  no  progress  in  democracy. 
They  stand  to-day,  as  they  have  stood  for  seven  centuries,  the 
savage  enemies  of  human  liberty  and  the  stumbling  blocks  of 
civilization.  Before  all  civilized  peoples  the  Germans  are  to-day 
regarded  as  the  outlaws  of  Christendom.  When  I  speak  of  the 
Germans,  I  mean  the  German  subjects  of  Austria  as  well  as  the 
German  subjects  of  the  House  of  Hohenzollern.  There  is  no 
difference  except  that  the  Austrians  have  a  veneering  which,  from 
a  social  point  of  view,  is  more  agreeable  than  the  bumptiousness, 
coarseness  and  vulgarity  of  the  typical  German.  The  Austrians 
were  a  part  of  the  Holy  Roman  Empire,  and  Mr.  Gladstone  once 
said  you  could  not  put  you  finger  on  the  map  of  Europe  and  say 
that  "Here  Austria  has  done  well." 

It  has  been  suggested  by  those  high  in  authority  that  we  are 
not  interested  in  the  dismemberment  of  the  Austrian  Empire. 
The  Austrian  Empire  has  been,  and  is,  a  menace  to  civilization. 
The  territory  and  sovereignty  of  Poland  cannot  be  restored,  nor 
can  the  territory  and  sovereignty  of  Bohemia  be  restored,  nor 
can  justice  be  done  to  the  Jugo-Slavs  without  the  dismemberment 
of  the  Austrian  Empire.  A  peace  without  justice  to  the  Slavic 
races,  especially  the  Poles  and  Bohemians  who  have  made  so 
many  sacrifices  for  the  cause  of  liberty  and  contributed  so  much 
to  civilization,  would  be  an  inconclusive  peace.  The  armies  that 
are  fighting  the  battles  of  Democracy  will  never  consent  to  an 
inconclusive  peace.  Nor  will  the  intelligent  and  liberty  loving 
English  speaking  peoples,  wherever  found,  accept  an  inconclusive 
peace. 

President  Wilson  has  said  that  we  are  fighting  to  make  the 
world  safe  for  democracy.  Later,  he  asserted  that  we  are  not 
making  war  on  the  German  people.  I  hope  I  am  well  within 
the  proprieties  of  the  occasion,  when,  solely  for  the  purpose  of 
having  a  fair  discussion  of  this  vital  question,  I  take  the  liberty 
of  saying  that  I  have  been  unable  to  comprehend  how  the  world 
can  be  made  safe  for  democracy  until  we  make  war  on  the  Ger- 
man people  and  continue  to  make  war  on  them;  until  they  are 
punished  for  the  great  crimes  of  which  they  have  been  guilty  and 
placed  in  a  position  where  they  never  shall  again  have  the  power 
to  threaten  civilization. 

Of  the  many  blunders — and  I  hope  I  am  not  using  partisan 
language,  because  I  do  not  so  intend — of  the  many  blunders  we 
have  made,  none  has  been  more  unpardonable  and  certainly  none 


VARIED  ASPECTS  OF  THE  WAR  127 

more  hazardous,  than  the  declaration  that  we  are  not  making  war 
on  the  German  people.  So  far  as  either  may  affect  the  progress 
of  civilization,  there  is  no  difference  between  the  German  people 
and  their  rulers,  and  it  is  foolish,  and  in  our  case,  suicidal,  in  the 
present  crisis,  to  try  to  differentiate  or  treat  separately  the  Ger- 
man people  and  their  government. 

If  we  are  not  making  war  on  the  German  people,  we  ought 
to  make  war  on  them,  and  we  should  have  begun  in  August, 
1914,  to  prepare  on  a  gigantic  scale  to  make  war  on  these  ruthless 
enemies  of  civilization,  and  necessarily  and  consequently,  enemies 
of  America.  For  more  than  three  years  they  have  made  war  on 
us.  They  have  fired  on  our  flag ;  they  have  sunk  our  ships ;  they 
have  robbed  and  murdered  our  citizens  and  abused  our  hospitality 
in  forming  conspiracies  against  the  life  of  the  nation.  Too  long 
have  we  indulged  the  narrow  and  selfish  view  that  we  were  not 
concerned  in  the  questions  of  this  life  and  death  struggle  of 
Christendom.  We  have  not  yet  paid  the  full  penalty  of  our  error. 
Let  us  not  make  another  humiliating  and  dangerous  mistake  by 
trying  to  teach  the  people  of  this  country  that  there  is  any  differ- 
ence between  the  German  people  and  their  present  rulers.  The 
German  rulers  and  the  German  Government  have  been  what 
the  German  people  desired,  and  what  was  and  is  best  suited  to 
their  customs  and  such  ideals  as  they  have  shown  in  history. 
Had  not  the  German  people  been  pleased  with  their  rulers,  had 
they  desired  a  more  humane,  civilized  and  liberal  government, 
they  would  have  done  what  the  English,  the  French,  the  Dutch, 
the  Italians,  the  Belgians  and  other  civilized  and  liberty-loving 
people  have  done.  They  would  have  destroyed  the  absolute  gov- 
ernments and  set  up  in  their  place  more  liberal  governments. 

Judged  by  their  support  of  the  brutal  and  despotic  govern- 
ments which  they  have  always  had ;  judged  by  their  declarations, 
their  avowed  purpose  and  their  deeds,  the  German  people  are  the 
most  savage,  inhuman,  treacherous  and  dishonorable  that  have 
existed  on  this  earth,  not  excepting  their  prototypes,  the  Huns 
of  the  fourth  and  fifth  centuries.  The  policy  of  Prussia,  from 
its  earliest  history,  has  been  to  rob  and  take  territory  from  its 
neighboring  states.  From  the  time  of  the  great  Elector  of  Brand- 
enburg, who  was  a  coarse,  savage  brute,  every  German  ruler  has 
stood  for  absolutism  and  "divine  right." 

I  have  said  that  differences  between  the  German  people  and 
the  people  of  democratic  governments,  represented  by  the  Allied 
Powers  against  Germany,  are  innate  and  fundamental.  For  seven 
centuries  the  English  speaking  peoples  have  been,  slowly  and  with 
great  sacrifices,  evolving  the  social  and  political  institutions  which 
we  call  democracy  and  which  the  Germans  are  now  trying  to 


128   ONE  HUNDRED  PER  CENT  AMERICAN 

destroy.  From  the  Great  Charter  of  English  liberties,  which 
marks  the  beginning  of  the  evolution  of  democracy  among  the 
English  speaking  peoples,  the  Germanic  races,  whether  under 
the  House  of  Hapsburg  or  Hohenzollern,  have  been  open  enemies 
of  English  institutions.  Enemies  of  every  form  of  democracy, 
they  have  brutally  fought  every  struggle  for  the  advancement  of 
human  liberty. 

As  a  result  of  the  War  of  the  Austrian  Succession,  Frederick 
the  Great  grabbed  Silesia  in  1742.  Next  to  the  dismemberment  of 
Poland,  which  was  also  planned  by  Frederick  the  Great,  a  few 
years  later,  the  taking  of  Silesia  was  one  of  the  most  diabolical 
deeds  in  the  history  of  Europe.  Macaulay  said  of  Frederick  the 
Great,  that  in  order  that  he  might  rob  a  neighbor  whom  he  had 
promised  to  defend,  black  men  fought  on  the  coast  of  Coro- 
mandel  and  red  men  scalped  each  other  on  the  Great  Lakes  of 
North  America.  The  Germans,  whether  under  the  Hohenzollerns 
of  Germany  or  the  Hapsburgs  of  Austria,  have  made  no  progress 
in  democracy  or  the  high  ideals  of  civilization. 

From  the  time  of  Julius  Caesar  to  the  present  day,  the  Ger- 
mans have  been  engaged  in  the  savage  practices  that  they  have 
shown  during  the  present  war.  You  could  not  find  a  more  damn- 
ing, a  more  condemnatory  indictment  of  the  German  people  than 
is  found  in  Caesar's  Commentaries  on  the  Gallic  War.  He  had 
utter  loathing  for  them,  and  on  the  other  hand,  he  had  great  con- 
fidence in  and  great  respect  for  the  Gauls  whom  he  made  allies 
of  Rome,  and  called  them  brethren. 

In  the  days  of  Caesar  the  Germans  crossed  the  Rhine,  drove 
the  Helvetians  into  Gaul  and  occupied  the  territory  now  known 
as  Alsace-Lorraine.  Caesar  went  into  that  country  to  drive  them 
back.  He  knew  the  Germans.  He  had  some  experience  with  their 
treachery  and  f rightfulness,  and  his  writings  are  as  condemnatory 
as  anything  you  could  possibly  read  against  the  Germans.  I  re- 
peat, that  the  issues  between  the  Allies  and  the  Central  Powers 
are  the  same  to-day  as  they  were  in  the  days  of  Caesar,  and  we 
find  the  same  races  arrayed  against  one  another. 

If  you  study  the  history  of  the  great  decisive  battles  of  Europe 
that  have  saved  civilization,  you  will  find  three  that  are  worthy  of 
particular  note.  The  Battle  of  the  Marne  in  the  early  days  of 
September,  1914,  was  not  the  first  Battle  of  the  Marne  that  saved 
Europe  from  the  domination  of  the  vandals.  The  first  Battle  of 
the  Marne  was  fought  nearly  fifteen  hundred  years  ago  on  the 
same  territory,  substantially  by  the  same  races  and  the  result  of 
each  battle  was  the  deliverance  of  civilization.  It  was  about  the 
middle  of  the  fifth  century  that  the  Gallic  tribes,  the  ancestors 
of  the  French,  met  the  "Scourge  of  God,"  Attila,  the  leader  of  the 


VARIED  ASPECTS  OF  THE  WAR  129 

Huns,  and  drove  him  back  and  saved  Europe.  We  know  in  the 
light  of  history  what  would  have  been  the  future  of  Europe  if 
the  Huns  had  not  been  defeated  at  the  Battle  of  the  Marne  in 
451 ;  and  we  can  easily  imagine  what  the  situation  would  be  in 
the  Christian  world  to-day  if  the  Huns  had  not  been  defeated  at 
the  Battle  of  the  Marne  in  1914.  We  know  what  would  have 
happened  had  the  vandals  reached  the  channel  coast  when 
America  was  unprepared  and  "too  proud  to  fight."  It  is  of  little 
consequence,  so  far  as  we  are  concerned,  because  they  are  ques- 
tions for  the  ethnologist  and  the  historian  to  determine,  whether 
the  Germans  are  in  fact  descendents  of  the  Huns ;  we  know  that 
their  practices  and  their  methods  are  the  same. 

The  next  great  battle  that  saved  Europe  from  the  barbarians, 
was  about  the  middle  of  the  eighth  century,  when  the  French 
again  on  French  soil,  under  the  leadership  of  Charles  Martel, 
drove  back  the  Saracens. 

Again,  it  was  in  1683  that  the  Poles,  under  John  Sobieski, 
saved  Europe  from  the  barbarians.  The  Turks  with  an  army  of 
300,000  invested  Vienna,  the  metropolis  of  Christendom  at  that 
time.  Leopold,  the  Emperor  of  Austria,  true  to  his  Hapsburg 
inheritance  and  bringing-up,  had  run  away  when  John  Sobieski 
with  his  brave  Poles  went  to  the  relief  of  Vienna  and  saved 
civilization.  So  that  we  find  on  down  through  the  centuries  of 
history,  from  the  time  of  Julius  Caesar  to  the  present  hour,  the 
Slavic  races  of  Poland  and  Bohemia,  the  Gallic  and  Celtic  races, 
have  on  more  than  one  occasion  saved  civilization  from  the  Huns 
and  preserved  the  institutions  of  liberty. 

I  challenge  any  defender  of  German  policies  and  practices  to 
show  one  spot  on  the  map  of  Europe  where  Germany  has  ever 
made  any  sacrifice  for  the  cause  of  civilization.  I  have  made 
that  statement  before,  and  on  one  occasion  a  man  rose  with  some 
indignation  and  said,  "How  dare  you  make  that  statement  if 
you  know  anything  of  the  life  of  the  German  martyr,  Martin 
Luther  ?"  I  said,  I  did  not  intend  to  mention  Martin  Luther,  but 
I  thank  you  for  affording  me  an  excuse  for  referring  to  him. 
When  you  tell  me  that  Martin  Luther  died  a  martyr,  I  can  tell  you 
that  history  denies  it,  because  no  German  of  whom  I  ever  read 
died  a  martyr.  As  a  scholar  and  as  a  leader,  in  attacks  on  the  sale 
of  licenses  and  privileges,  what  we  here  in  America  would  call 
corrupt  practices  in  the  church,  Martin  Luther  cannot  be  too 
highly  praised. 

But  a  little  more  than  one  hundred  years,  or  hardly  a  hun- 
dred years,  before  Luther,  there  was,  across  in  the  adjacent  coun- 
try of  Bohemia,  John  Huss.  Huss  not  only  attacked  corrupt 
practices  in  the  church,  but  he  stood  for  civil  liberty  and  uplift 


130       ONE  HUNDRED  PER  CENT  AMERICAN 

of  the  poor  serfs  of  that  country,  and,  Bohemian-like,  he  died  a 
martyr  to  his  faith.  German-like,  when  the  poor  serfs,  thinking 
that  God  had  sent  them  a  leader,  to  lift  some  of  the  burdens  of 
German  oppression,  rose  in  rebellion,  Martin  Luther  turned  to 
the  princes  and  advised  them  to  shoot  down  the  people  for  whom 
John  Huss  had  died.  Luther  was  a  Saxon,  the  best  of  the  Ger- 
mans, but  withal  he  was  a  German  and  his  life  gave  striking 
evidence  of  Germany  perfidy  and  cowardice.  In  comparing  the 
life  of  Luther  with  John  Huss,  we  find  the  innate  racial  differ- 
ence between  the  Bohemian  and  the  German,  and  it  is  just  as 
marked  in  America  to-day  as  it  was  in  the  middle  of  the  sixteenth 
century  in  Europe.  I  have  attended  meetings  of  Bohemians  and 
Poles  in  this  country,  when  they  expressed  in  words  and  showed 
by  deeds  their  loyalty  to  America,  but  I  have  not  had  the  privilege 
of  attending  any  German  meetings  of  that  character. 

A  little  while  ago  in  a  great  Coliseum  in  the  city  of  Chicago, 
there  assembled  some  fifteen  thousand  Poles,  under  the  leader- 
ship of  that  great  artist  and  still  greater  patriot,  Paderewski,  who 
spoke  with  the  fervor  and  patriotic  eloquence  of  the  illustrious 
Kosciuszko,  and  at  that  meeting  thousands  were  mustered  in  to 
fight  for  the  country  of  their  adoption.  No  such  meetings  of  the 
Germans  have  been  held  in  our  city.  I  don't  know  how  many 
you  had  in  New  York,  but  I  have  not  read  of  any  in  this  city. 

The  Germans  were  brought  up,  from  the  cradle,  to  war  and 
rapine,  so  Caesar  said.  And  here,  it  may  be  interesting  for  us 
to  recall  one  point  in  the  early  history  of  the  Germanic  tribes. 
Rome  always  succeeded  in  defeating  the  barbarians.  She  de- 
feated them  under  Alaric  and  Attila ;  but  she  never  took  the  pre- 
caution to  destroy  their  power  so  that  they  would  not  be  able  to 
attack  again.    The  Allies  should  take  warning. 

I  come  now, — if  I  haven't  over-reached  my  time — I  come  now 
to  discuss  briefly  Germanism  in  America.  At  the  outbreak 
of  this  war  I  read  numerous  articles  in  the  papers,  not  only  of 
my  own  city,  where  Germanism  is  strong,  but  also  the  New  York 
papers  (some  of  them) — statements  made  by  irresponsible  and 
fulsome  writers,  testifying  to  Germany's  alleged  friendship  for 
America. 

There  has  not  been  a  day  in  the  history  of  America,  from  the 
time  that  she  sent  her  first  commissioners  to  Europe,  that  Ger- 
many has  not  been  the  enemy  of  America,  and  there  has  never 
been  one  occasion  that  she  showed  her  friendly  spirit.  Frederick 
the  Great  refused  to  receive  our  commissioners,  and  Joseph  II 
of  Austria  also  refused  to  receive  them. 

Arthur  Lee  was  sent  to  Berlin  as  the  envoy  or  commissioner 
from  the  American  colonies,  but  Frederick  the  Great  refused  to 


VARIED  ASPECTS  OF  THE  WAR  131 

receive  him.  Frederick  declared  he  would  first  try  to  find  out 
which  side  would  win  and  then  go  with  that  side.  This  decision 
of  Frederick  the  Great,  respecting  the  representative  of  our 
colonial  fathers,  who  were  fighting  against  the  oppression  of  a 
German  King  of  England,  was  in  full  accord  with  the  code  estab- 
lished by  Frederick  the  Great,  expressed  by  him  in  these  words : 
"No  ministers  at  home,  but  clerks ;  no  ministers  abroad,  but  spies ; 
form  alliances  only  to  sow  animosities ;  kindle  and  prolong  wars 
between  my  neighbors;  always  promise  help  and  never  send  it; 
there  is  only  one  person  in  the  Kingdom,  and  that  is  myself." 

Benjamin  Franklin  warned  America  against  the  Germans. 
He  was  in  Europe  in  the  interest  of  the  American  colonies ;  first 
in  England,  before  the  Declaration  of  Independence,  then  in 
France  and  other  countries  of  the  continent  after  our  declaration 
of  war  with  England.  In  his  prophetic  warnings  against  the  Ger- 
mans he  said ;  "Measures  of  great  temper  are  necessary  with  the 
Germans.  .  .  .  Not  being  used  to  liberty  they  know  not  how  to 
make  a  modest  use  of  it.  In  short,  unless  the  stream  of  their 
importation  can  be  turned  from  this  to  other  colonies  .  .  .  they 
will  soon  so  outnumber  us  that  all  the  advantages  which  we  have 
will  not,  in  my  opinion,  be  able  to  preserve  our  language  and  even 
our  Government  will  become  precarious."  Franklin  saw  far  into 
the  future  and  the  situation  that  he  anticipated  confronts  us  to- 
day.   It  is  a  pity  his  admonitions  were  not  heeded. 

Before  going  further  into  the  history  of  Germanism  in  Ameri- 
ca, I  desire  to  call  your  attention  to  one  important  event  in  his- 
tory, which  sustains  my  grave  but  just  charge  that  the  Germans  as 
a  race  have  no  sense  of  honor.  We  know  that  there  are  notable 
exceptions.  We  have  distinguished  exceptions  here  in  this  coun- 
try of  loyal  Germans,  but  I  am  speaking  of  them  as  a  race  and 
nation. 

When  Napoleon  started  to  Egypt,  without  firing  a  gun,  he 
took  the  Island  of  Malta,  supposed  to  be  impregnable  if  there  was 
one  impregnable  spot  on  the  Mediterranean  Sea.  One  of  his  staff 
remarked  to  him  when  they  entered  that  it  was  well  they  had 
somebody  on  the  inside  to  let  them  in.  They  did  have  somebody 
to  let  them  in.  The  Knights  of  St.  John,  for  nearly  three  hun- 
dred years  on  the  Island  of  Malta,  had  defended  Europe  against 
the  attacks  of  the  Turks.  It  stood  as  the  great  outpost  in  defense 
of  Christian  Europe  against  the  attacks  by  sea,  but  in  an  un- 
guarded moment,  in  the  period  of  decline,  the  Knights  of  St. 
John,  later  known  as  the  Knights  of  Malta,  elected  for  the  first 
time  and  for  the  last  time  a  German  as  Grand  Master.  He  was 
the  last  Grand  Master  of  the  Knights  of  St.  John ;  because,  Ger- 
man-like, he  destroyed  them.     Immediately  after  his  election  as 


132   ONE  HUNDRED  PER  CENT  AMERICAN 

Grand  Master,  he  entered  into  negotiations  with  representatives 
of  Napoleon,  and  he  engaged,  for  a  consideration  of  600,000 
francs  and  an  estate  in  Germany,  to  surrender  the  fortress,  and  he 
delivered  the  Island  of  Malta  to  Napoleon  without  firing  a  gun. 
Baron  Hompesch,  the  German  Grand  Master,  who  betrayed  the 
Knights  of  St.  John,  was  seized  by  the  Knights  and  later  the  island 
was  turned  over  to  Great  Britain  and  the  English  have  held  it 
to  this  day. 

There  is  not  a  spot  on  the  Western  Hemisphere  where  the 
Germans  have  built  for  civilization.  In  the  early  history  of  this 
country,  following  the  discovery  by  Columbus,  the  Spaniards, 
English,  Dutch,  French,  and  in  a  limited  way,  the  Danes  and 
Swedes,  settled  and  built  well,  and  farther  South  the  Portuguese 
came.  Each  of  these  races  and  nations,  in  its  own  way,  came  as 
pioneers  and  built  for  civilization  and  has  left  its  lasting  imprint 
upon  America,  but  the  Germans  came  only  as  camp  followers 
and  sutlers.  The  German  has  never  built  in  America  as  a  pio- 
neer, nor  has  he  ever  gone  into  any  other  country  as  a  pioneer. 

But  there  is  one  notable  exception  to  this  general  charge  which 
should  be  noted  because  it  is  interesting  and  well  illustrates  Ger- 
man practices  and  methods.  Charles  the  Fifth,  of  the  Holy  Ro- 
man Empire,  also  known  as  Charles  the  First  in  Spanish  history, 
was  a  great  borrower  of  money.  He  borrowed  large  sums  of 
money  from  a  German  banking  house,  the  name  of  which  I  do 
not  recall  at  the  moment,  and  I  will  not  tire  you  to  look  it  up,  but 
one  of  the  noted  German  banking  houses  of  the  sixteenth  century, 
and  he  gave  them  as  security  Little  Venice, — Venezuela ;  and  that 
country  has  been  a  sore  spot  on  the  Western  Hemisphere  from 
that  day  to  this  blessed  moment.  Their  enslavement  and  mur- 
der of  the  natives  and  their  unspeakable  crimes  actually  shocked 
Charles  the  Fifth,  and  you  may  know  how  bad  they  were  when 
they  shocked  him,  and  he  revoked  their  charter.  That  was  their 
only  attempt  as  pioneers  on  the  Western  Hemisphere  in  America 
and  that  was  a  monumental  failure. 

The  war  of  the  American  colonists  against  the  oppressive 
measures  of  a  German  king  of  England  involved  substantially 
the  same  issues,  and  the  same  people  were  engaged  in  it  on  the 
same  sides  that  are  engaged  in  the  conflict  to-day.  It  was  in 
truth  a  war  between  the  French  and  English  on  one  side  and  the 
Germans  on  the  other  side.  The  House  of  Hanover  came  to  the 
throne  of  England  as  the  result  of  one  of  those  unfortunate  dy- 
nastic marriages.  George,  Elector  of  Hanover,  known  in  Eng- 
lish history  as  George  I,  was  the  son  of  Sophia,  granddaughter 
of  James  the  First  of  England.  He  succeeded  to  the  English 
throne  by  virtue  of  an  act  of  Parliament,  known  as  the  Act  of 


VARIED  ASPECTS  OF  THE  WAR  133 

Settlement,  passed  in  1701,  which,  in  default  of  an  issue  from 
Anne  and  William,  entailed  the  crown  on  the  Electress  Sophia 
and  her  heirs,  being  Protestant.  George  went  over  to  England, 
unable  to  speak  a  word  of  the  English  language,  ignorant  of 
English  character  and  with  no  proper  conception  of  English  in- 
stitutions. He  took  with  him  a  train  of  mistresses  and  ascended 
the  English  throne  as  George  I,  first  of  the  House  of  Hanover. 

Trouble  with  the  American  colonies  followed  the  coming  of 
the  House  of  Hanover  to  the  English  throne,  and  it  continued 
down  to  the  reign  of  George  III,  whose  arbitrary  measures 
brought  on  the  Declaration  of  Independence  and  the  War  of 
the  American  Revolution.  We  should  not  forget  to-day,  in  the 
present  world  crisis,  that  practically  every  great  statesman  in 
England  at  that  time  was  openly  and  earnestly  with  the  Ameri- 
can colonies  and  against  the  policies  of  the  throne.  George  III 
could  not,  and  he  did  not,  get  English  troops  to  fight  the  war, 
but  he  went  where  the  crowned  heads  of  Europe  had  been  going 
for  centuries  to  buy  soldiers.  He  went  to  the  little  principalities 
and  dukedoms  of  Germany,  and  there  he  hired  from  his  kins- 
man, the  Duke  of  Brunswick,  six  thousand  mercenary  troops 
that  landed  at  Quebec,  and  later  were  captured  at  Saratoga.  The 
landgrave  of  Hess  and  the  Duke  of  Brunswick  were  the  first 
to  sell  soldiers  to  George  III,  but  later  other  German  Princes  got 
in  the  market.  There  were  at  that  time  over  300  principalities, 
dukedoms  and  whatnot,  claiming  sovereignty  in  Germany.  Princes 
were  plentiful  and  all  were  in  the  market  for  money  any  way 
they  could  get  it,  just  as  they  were  in  the  time  of  Csesar  and  as 
they  are  to-day. 

And  further  to  illustrate  the  innate  racial  differences  to  which 
I  have  referred,  and  to  show  how  frequently  in  history  we  find 
the  same  people  arrayed  against  one  another,  the  Germans,  with- 
out exception,  always  on  the  side  of  oppression  and  absolutism, 
it  is  interesting  to  recall  one  of  the  most  important  events  in 
the  American  Revolution.  The  battle  of  Saratoga  was  the  first 
great  victory  for  the  American  patriots  and  the  immediate  whole- 
some result  of  that  victory  was  to  cement  not  only  the  friend- 
ship of  the  French  people,  but  also  the  active  material  support 
of  the  French  Government.  And  for  that  victory  the  American 
patriots  were  largely  indebted  to  the  Polish  patriot,  Kosciuszko, 
who  planned  the  battle  of  Bemis  Heights  and  Saratoga,  and  who 
later  built  the  defenses  at  West  Point.  This  splendid  Pole,  il- 
lustrious patriot  and  statesman,  after  fighting  for  the  American 
patriots  and  rendering  most  valuable  service  in  this  country,  re- 
turned to  fight  again  for  his  native  land,  and  well  has  the  Eng- 
lish poet  said 


134       ONE  HUNDRED  PER  CENT  AMERICAN 

"Hope  for  a  season  bade  the  world  farewell, 
And  Freedom  shrieked  when  Kosciuszko  fell." 

There  were  engaged  in  the  war  of  the  American  Revolution 
some  thirty  thousand  Hessians,  German  mercenaries.  They  rep- 
resented nearly  about  ninety  per  cent  of  the  English  Army.  The 
atrocities  and  outrages  of  the  Hessians  in  that  war  invited  the 
protest  of  General  Washington.  In  answer  to  his  protest,  it  was 
said  that  they  had  been  offered  that  inducement  to  come  to  Amer- 
ica, and  that  they  were  accustomed  to  frightful  practices  and 
that  without  it  they  would  not  have  come.  If  you  read  Ban- 
croft's story  of  the  atrocities  in  the  American  Revolution,  par- 
ticularly in  the  Carolinas,  you  will  think  that  you  are  reading 
the  story  of  the  German  atrocities  in  Belgium  and  France  in 
1914  and  1915. 

Germans  began  coming  to  this  country  in  great  numbers 
about  1840.  I  have  frequently  heard  it  said  that  they  ran  away 
from  the  so-called  revolution  of  1848.  Practically  all  of  Europe 
was  involved  at  that  time  but  it  was  a  small  affair  in  Germany. 
The  Germans  have  never  been  very  strong  on  revolutions  in  their 
own  country.  There  were  social  and  political  disturbances  in 
Europe  in  '48.  One  of  those  outbreaks  evidencing  the  growth 
of  democracy,  but  the  democratic  feeling  did  not  show  great 
virility  or  aggressive  force  in  Germany.  The  Germans  ran  away. 
This  has  always  been  their  policy.  Some  of  the  leading  German- 
Americans  are  very  boastful  about  the  fact  that  their  grand- 
fathers ran  away  from  Germany  in  1848.  The  Germans  are  the 
only  people  who  come  to  this  country  and  boast  about  having  run 
away  from  their  own  country.  The  English,  the  French,  the 
Belgians,  the  Italians,  the  Serbians  and  others  who  are  en- 
gaged in  this  war  against  Germany  have  never  boasted  about 
their  fathers  running  away  from  their  native  country.  The 
truth  is  they  did  not  run  away.  They  stayed  at  home  and  fought 
the  battles  of  democracy  and  many  of  them  gave  their  lives  for 
the  cause  of  human  liberty.  Cavour  and  Garibaldi  did  not  run 
away  from  Italy  and  that  is  the  reason  Italy  is  a  democracy  to- 
day. Only  the  Germans  are  proud  of  the  fact  that  their  ancestors 
ran  away  from  their  native  country.  Germans  were  considered  un- 
desirable citizens  of  this  country  when  in  1838-1848  German  im- 
migration was  investigated  by  the  United  States  Senate  at  request 
of  a  resolution  passed  by  the  General  Court  of  Massachusetts. 

And  what  is  the  record  of  Germans  here  in  America  ?  There 
have  been  some  Germans  who  have  made  good  citizens  of  the 
United  States,  who  have  come  to  claim  the  protection  of  our  flag 
and  to  enjoy  the  greater  opportunities  for  making  a  living  and  for 


VARIED  ASPECTS  OF  THE  WAR  135 

the  pursuit  of  happiness,  and  some  who  were  brave  soldiers  in  the 
Union  Army:  but  it  is  also  a  fact,  so  far  as  I  have  been  able  to 
gather  information  from  the  records,  and  it  has  been  published  in 
your  papers  here  in  New  York,  that  the  highest  percentage  of  de- 
sertions was  among  the  Germans.  Sixteen  per  cent,  of  the  Ger- 
mans deserted  in  that  war  and  seven  per  cent,  of  the  British. 
That  is  the  comparative  record  of  the  Germans  in  the  Civil 
War. 

There  is  the  record  of  Franz  Sigel,  who  was  a  German- 
American  soldier.  Born  in  Baden.  He  rose  to  the  rank  of 
Major  General  of  Volunteers  in  the  Civil  War,  but  the  Admin- 
istration lost  confidence  in  him  and  he  was  relieved  of  his  com- 
mand. I  believe  you  have  a  monument  to  Sigel  here  on  the  River- 
side Drive,  not  very  far  from  the  Grant  mausoleum,  but  there 
is  also  a  monument  to  Frederick  the  Great  at  the  National  Capi- 
tol, not  very  far  from  the  Washington  monument. 

The  German  educational  work  has  been  very  efficient  and 
effective  in  this  country  and  we  have  been  too  indifferent  about 
the  influence  of  German  propaganda.  There  are  monuments  to 
Franz  Sigel  in  other  parts  of  the  country  where  German  influ- 
ence is  strong  and  German  bumptiousness  is  unchecked ;  but  there 
is  another  monument  to  Sigel,  not  built  in  marble  or  bronze, 
nor  placed  conspicuously  before  the  public.  It  is  enduring  evi- 
dence of  German  faithlessness,  if  that  may  be  called  a  monument, 
and  can  be  found  in  the  second  volume  of  the  Memoirs  of  General 
Grant  and  expressed  in  these  words  "Sigel's  record  is  almost 
equally  brief.  He  moved  out,  it  is  true,  according  to  program, 
but  just  when  I  was  hoping  to  hear  of  good  work  being  done  by 
him  in  the  Valley,  I  received  instead  the  following  announcement 
from  Halleck:  'Sigel  is  in  full  retreat  on  Strasburg.  He  will 
do  nothing  but  run.  Never  did  anything  else/  The  enemy  had 
intercepted  him  about  New  Market  and  handled  him  roughly, 
leaving  him  short  six  guns  and  some  900  men  out  of  6,000." 

The  German-Americans  point  to  Carl  Schurz  as  the  most  dis- 
tinguished of  their  sect,  and  what  is  his  record?  When  Carl 
Schurz  left  Germany  he  lived  for  three  years  in  other  countries 
of  Europe, — first  in  Switzerland,  then  in  France,  then  in  Eng- 
land. In  1852  he  came  to  America,  and  resided  first  in  Penn- 
sylvania, then  in  Wisconsin,  then  in  Michigan,  then  in  Missouri, 
and  then  in  New  York.  Mr.  Blaine  said  of  Schurz  that  "he  has 
not  become  rooted  and  grounded  anywhere,  has  never  established 
a  home,  is  not  identified  with  any  community,  is  not  interwoven 
with  the  interests  of  any  locality  or  of  any  class,  has  no  fixed 
relations  to  Church  or  State,  to  professional,  political,  or  social 
life,  has  acquired  none  of  that  companionship  and  confidence 


136   ONE  HUNDRED  PER  CENT  AMERICAN 

which  unite  old  neighbors  in  the  closest  ties,  and  give  to  friend- 
ship its  fullest  development,  its  most  gracious  attributes." 

I  don't  suppose  there  ever  lived  a  German  in  America  who 
brought  more  trouble  on  this  country  than  Carl  Schurz.  In  1865 
he  was  appointed  by  President  Johnson,  with  General  Grant,  to 
visit  the  Southern  States  that  had  been  in  rebellion.  Grant  was 
a  gentleman  as  well  as  a  broad,  patriotic  American.  He  had 
received  the  surrender  of  General  Lee,  but  he  was  too  brave  and 
chivalric  to  use  his  possession  for  prosecuting  a  defeated  foe. 
He  made  a  report  substantially  in  line  with  the  views  expressed 
by  the  Duke  of  Wellington  when  he  protested  against  the  con- 
duct of  Blucher  following  Waterloo,  and  declared  that  the  pres- 
ence of  a  victorious  army  in  the  conquered  country  of  a  highly 
civilized,  liberty-loving  people  prevented  the  establishment  of  per- 
manent peace  and  stable  government.  The  report  of  Mr.  Schurz 
was  the  opposite.  German-like,  he  had  no  faith  in  the  people, 
and  no  plan  of  dealing  with  a  defeated  foe  except  the  brutal 
German  plan  of  physical  force  and  oppression.  His  report  was 
made  the  basis  of  the  reconstruction  measures  of  Thaddeus  Ste- 
vens, and  we  know  how  those  measures  prolonged  sectional  prej- 
udice in  this  country,  accentuated  racial  prejudice  and  brought 
needless  suffering  on  the  poor  negroes. 

In  writing  an  epilogue  to  a  very  interesting  volume  under 
the  title  of  "Why  Europe  is  at  War,"  my  distinguished  friend, 
General  Greene,  who  is  here  to-day,  refers  to  the  action  of  Carl 
Schurz  during  the  Franco-Prussian  War,  in  these  words : 

"It  is  a  well-settled  principle  of  international  law  that  any 
change  by  a  neutral  nation,  after  the  outbreak  of  hostilities,  in 
its  neutrality  laws  is  in  itself  a  breach  of  neutrality.  It  is  an 
interesting  fact  that  in  the  war  of  1870,  Carl  Schurz,  then  United 
States  Senator  from  Missouri,  protested  in  the  Senate  against 
the  sales  of  arms  to  France ;  and  his  action  had  important  politi- 
cal consequences  in  this  country.  It  was  one  of  the  factors  which 
led  to  the  formation  of  the  Liberal  party  in  1872,  the  nomina- 
tion by  that  party  of  Horace  Greeley  for  President,  the  endorse- 
ment of  the  nomination  by  the  Democratic  party,  the  overwhelm- 
ing defeat  of  Greeley  in  the  election  of  1872,  and  the  death  of 
Greeley  soon  after  the  election.  I  had  the  story  at  considerable 
length  from  his  standpoint,  and  a  very  interesting  story  it  was, 
from  General  Grant  at  St.  Petersburg  in  August,  1878,  at  the 
time  that  he  was  making  his  tour  around  the  world.  I  remember 
his  saying  that  while  he  had  great  respect  for  Carl  Schurz  he 
could  not  but  think  that  his  conduct  in  this  matter  showed  him 
to  be  more  of  a  German  than  an  American.  .  .  .  The  enmity 
of  Carl  Schurz  toward  President  Grant  and  his  Administration 


VARIED  ASPECTS  OF  THE  WAR  137 

dated  from  this  controversy,  and  because  the  Administration  did 
not  accede  to  Schurz's  view,  Schurz  set  out  to  split  the  Repub- 
lican party  and  to  defeat  General  Grant  for  the  nomination;  or 
if  he  received  the  nomination,  then  to  organize  from  a  minority 
of  the  Republicans  and  from  the  Democrats  a  party  which  should 
defeat  him  at  the  election.  The  plans  of  Schurz  and  Sumner 
and  Greeley,  as  is  well  known,  came  to  an  ignominious  failure." 

I  have  already  referred  to  the  Duke  of  Wellington's  protest- 
ing against  the  policies  of  Blucher  following  Waterloo.  Bliicher 
with  the  German  Army  was  the  first  of  the  allied  armies  against 
Napoleon  to  arrive  in  Paris  after  Waterloo,  and  he  at  once 
began  the  German  practice  of  murder  and  looting.  Alexander 
of  Russia  was  the  next  to  arrive,  and  he  protested.  The  next 
propostion  of  Blucher  was  to  assassinate  Napoleon.  He  sent 
one  of  his  staff  officers  to  the  Duke  of  Wellington,  stating  he 
had  the  matter  in  shape  and  could  do  the  job.  Needless  to  say, 
the  Duke  of  Wellington  dismissed  the  German  officer  with  in- 
dignation, stating  that  it  would  be  a  stain  on  the  English  from 
which  they  would  never  recover  and  would  destroy  all  the  glory 
of  Waterloo.  Blucher's  next  proposition  was  to  dismember 
France  as  Frederick  the  Great  had  dismembered  Poland. 

If  any  people  had  just  cause  to  feel  a  resentment  against  the 
French,  it  was  Russia ;  but  Alexander  of  Russia  joined  with  the 
Duke  of  Wellington  to  prevent  the  dismemberment  of  France. 
The  last  proposition  made  by  Blucher  was  to  maintain  indefinitely 
forces  of  the  allied  army  in  France.  The  Duke  of  Wellington 
replied  that  the  presence  of  the  army  would  prevent  permanent 
peace  and  the  establishmnt  of  a  stable  government.  General 
Grant  used  almost  the  same  language  in  his  report  about  condi- 
tions in  the  South,  in  the  latter  part  of  1865,  that  the  Duke  of 
Wellington  had  used  in  speaking  about  conditions  in  France 
nearly  fifty  years  before. 

In  the  history  of  the  Franco-Prussian  War,  we  find  the  same 
story  of  German  frightfulness,  vandalism  and  perfidy.  Every 
village  that  the  Germans  passed  through  was  made  the  victim  of 
organized  pillage.  The  German  troops  murdered  civil  populations 
and  indiscriminately  massacred,  solely  to  spread  terror.  Large 
and  populous  cities  were  bombarded  and  burned  and  the  women 
and  children  in  them  slaughtered  with  the  sole  object  of  inflict- 
ing suffering.  The  horrors  that  France  has  passed  through  dur- 
ing the  present  war  are  but  repetitions  of  her  experiences  during 
the  Franco-Prussian  War. 

A  word  more  about  German-Americans.  I  fear  I  have  al- 
ready gone  beyond  the  time  allowed  for  this  topic  but  with  your 
indulgence  I  desire  to  draw  attention  to  one  more  incident  in 


138       ONE  HUNDRED  PER  CENT  AMERICAN 

American  history  which  so  forcibly  illustrates  the  disloyalty  of 
German- Americans.  It  was  an  event  of  such  gravity  that  it  could 
almost  be  called  an  epoch  in  American  history.  I  refer  to  Ger- 
many's action  at  the  time  of  the  trouble  respecting  the  Samoan 
Islands. 

In  1873,  one  Col.  A.  B.  Steinberger,  a  native  of  Germany, 
migrated  to  this  country  and  in  due  time  he  took  the  oath  of  al- 
legiance to  the  United  States,  renouncing  his  allegiance  to  Ger- 
many, and  became  a  citizen  of  this  country.  Through  German 
political  influence  he  was  appointed  United  States  Commissioner 
to  the  Samoan  Islands  in  1873.  He  reported  on  conditions  and 
was  sent  back  in  1874,  but  instead  of  going  to  Samoa  he  went 
to  Berlin  and  placed  himself  in  connection  with  GodefTroy  & 
Co.  "Thence,  indeed,  he  proceeded  to  Samoa  as  United  States 
Commissioner  in  name,  but  in  fact  as  agent  of  the  German  firm." 
Trouble  began  as  soon  as  he  returned  to  Samoa.  "He  played 
American  against  German  interests."  Had  himself  made  prime 
minister  of  Samoa.  The  British  government  deposed  him  and 
the  United  States  repudiated  him.  Later  in  the  Samoan  affair, 
it  was  just  after  the  German  flag  had  been  fired  upon  in  con- 
nection with  that  affair  in  Samoa  that  feeling  was  running  dan- 
gerously high,  when  nearly  200  German  organizations  met  in 
Chicago  and  with  cheers  for  the  Kaiser  passed  resolutions  de- 
claring that  it  was  to  their  interest  to  foster  German  language 
and  traits  of  German  character.  Similar  meetings  were  held  in 
St.  Louis  and  Kansas  City. 

We  have  heard  a  great  deal  about  German  efficiency.  We 
frequently  hear  it  said  that  the  Germans  are  wide  awake,  pro- 
gressive and  successful  business  men.  That  they  have  built  up 
a  great  commercial  nation  and  are  successful  in  business  in  other 
countries  to  which  they  migrate.  It  is  true  that  Germany  has 
made  wonderful  strides  in  commercial  development  and  the  Ger- 
mans are  successful  in  business  and  prove  themselves  excellent 
tradesmen  and  merchants,  where  cunning  and  shrewdness  are 
necessary  or  can  be  utilized  in  business  practices,  but  so  far  as 
commercial  integrity  and  business  honor  are  concerned,  the  Ger- 
mans do  not  possess  it,  as  a  nation  or  as  a  people.  One  striking 
event  of  late  American  history  will  illustrate  the  point. 

In  the  great  conflagration  at  San  Francisco,  following  the 
earthquake  of  April,  1906,  the  total  loss  to  insurance  companies 
of  the  world  was  approximately  225  million  dollars  and  the  esti- 
mated actual  value  of  the  property  represented  by  these  losses 
was  nearly  or  quite  100  million  dollars  more.  The  record  of  the 
settlement  of  these  losses  furnishes  interesting  figures  for  com- 
parative purposes.     The  record  of  these  settlements  furnishes 


VARIED  ASPECTS  OF  THE  WAR  139 

further  evidence  of  innate  racial  differences  to  which  I  have  so 
frequently  referred.  These  differences  crop  out  in  business  affairs 
quite  as  frequently  as  in  social  and  political  affairs  wherever 
the  German  is  concerned.  I  have  not  the  time  and  I  fear  you 
would  not  have  the  patience  to  listen  to  the  figures  in  detail,  but  a 
summary  of  those  settlements  for  comparative  purposes  illus- 
trating my  point  and  showing  that  the  Germans  are  lacking  in 
business  integrity,  may  be  briefly  stated  in  a  few  words : 

There  were  twenty-seven  English  companies  interested  in  the 
San  Francisco  losses.  Sixteen  of  these  British  companies  paid 
losses  immediately  without  any  discount ;  three  paid  on  an  average 
°f  95  Per  cent-  to  98  per  cent;  two  paid  85  per  cent,  to  90  per 
cent ;  one  paid  75  per  cent,  to  80  per  cent. ;  four  paid  50  per  cent. 
t0  75  Per  cent-  and  one  denied  all  liability  on  account  of  earth- 
quake clause. 

Of  the  forty  United  States  companies  interested,  seventeen 
paid  the  full  amount  of  adjusted  losses  without  discounts;  six 
paid  from  90  per  cent,  to  97  per  cent,  of  the  adjusted  losses,  the  2 
per  cent,  to  5  per  cent,  discount  usually  being  for  cash  payment. 
Two  paid  from  85  per  cent,  to  90  per  cent. ;  five  paid  75  per  cent, 
to  80  per  cent. ;  three  paid  40  per  cent,  to  50  per  cent. ;  two  de- 
clined to  pay  anything,  and  no  definite  figures  exist  regarding 
two  companies. 

Of  the  eight  French  companies  sustaining  losses,  seven  paid 
promptly  and  without  any  discount  for  cash  settlement ;  one  paid 
75  per  cent,  to  80  per  cent. ;  none  denied  liability. 

One  Belgian  company  was  represented  and  paid  the  full 
amount  of  its  losses  without  discount. 

Of  the  thirteen  German  companies  represented,  one  paid  the 
full  amount  of  its  losses  on  a  basis  of  92  per  cent.,  but  the  total 
losses  of  this  company  amounted  in  the  aggregate  to  only  $2,751. 
One  German  company  paid  85  per  cent,  to  90  per  cent. ;  four  paid 
75  per  cent,  to  80  per  cent. ;  one  paid  50  per  cent,  and  six  compa- 
nies denied  all  liability.  At  least  eight  of  the  German  companies 
were  known  to  be  able  to  pay  the  full  amount  of  their  losses  with- 
out discount. 

From  Julius  Caesar  to  the  present  hour  it  is  one  continuous 
story  of  German  treachery,  German  vandalism,  German  barbari- 
ties and  German  dishonor,  national  and  private. 

Within  the  limits  of  this  hour's  discussion  I  have  been  able  to 
refer  only  briefly  to  some  of  the  most  striking  incidents  of  Ger- 
man perfidy.  A  great  deal  more  could  be  said  touching  the  facts 
that  I  have  gathered  from  the  history  of  this  people,  but  it  would 
be  only  cumulative  evidence  in  support  of  the  general  indictment 
against  these  outlaws  of  Christendom. 


140       ONE  HUNDRED  PER  CENT  AMERICAN 


TWO:     BY  CAPTAIN  A.  P.  SIMONDS,  U.  S.  A. 

After  the  splendid  historical  address  of  my  good  friend,  Mr. 
Skaggs,  perhaps  it  might  be  ill-timed  for  me  to  bring  to  you  my 
message  from  the  Government.  Unfortunately,  it  is  not  a  simple 
story,  but  a  gruesome  tale.  There  isn't  anything  simple  to-day 
about  this  great  tragedy  and  struggle  in  which  the  nations  of 
the  world  are  arrayed  against  one  another.  The  facts  are  horri- 
ble, and  when  I  was  selected  to  bring  before  the  American  people, 
to  bring  the  war  home  to  them,  it  was  with  a  great  deal  of  hesi- 
tancy that  I  finally  yielded  to  the  entreaties  of  the  Secretary  of 
War,  to  awake  the  people  to  conditions  as  they  are.  However, 
I  was  American  enough  to  know  that  just  as  soon  as  the  Ameri- 
can people  realized  the  facts  as  they  were  and  as  they  are,  that 
nothing  on  top  of  God's  earth  could  stop  the  result,  the  inevitable 
result,  the  ending  of  this  war  as  we  knew  it  would  be. 

In  the  first  place,  it  was  my  fortune,  or  misfortune,  as  you 
wish  to  call  it,  to  be  in  the  fortress  on  the  German  frontier  with 
Colonel  von  Biedelmann  of  the  Tenth  Hussars,  when  the  word 
came  to  mobilize  the  German  Army.  Perhaps  it  might  not  be 
amiss  for  me  to  tell  you  civilians  that  at  no  time,  does  any  one, 
outside  the  German  staff,  know  when  the  order  to  mobilize  is 
given.  It  comes  utterly  unknown,  which  will,  in  a  measure, 
further  illustrate  to  you  the  marvelous  efficiency  of  this  great 
fighting  machine  which  to-day  is  our  foe.  At  a  quarter  to  eleven 
at  night  the  order  came,  and  in  a  little  less  than  twenty-four  hours, 
to  be  precise,  twenty-three  and  a  half  hours,  I  saw  one  million, 
seven  hundred  thousand  men  mobilize  on  the  German  frontier. 
I  mean,  of  course,  the  start  of  the  mobilization,  as  no  one  man 
could  see  that  all  at  one  time. 

There  isn't  one  of  you  gentlemen,  within  the  range  of  my 
voice,  who  has  ever  seen  a  million  of  anything,  outside  of  figures. 
Think,  for  one  moment,  of  one  million,  seven  hundred  thousand 
perfectly  equipped,  trained  and  well-armed  men.  When  we  speak 
of  mobilization  in  the  Army,  we  speak  of  it  in  a  strictly  military 
sense — armed,  equipped,  provisioned,  clothed  and  ready  for  in- 
stant and  active  orders.  It  would  have  taken  any  Colonel, — and 
I  think  I  say  this  safely  within  the  hearing  of  my  friend,  General 
Greene, — it  would  have  taken  any  Colonel  in  our  regular  service 
thirty  days  to  mobilize  his  regiment.  I  mean  nothing  disparaging 
against  our  Army,  because,  understand  that  our  slogan  had  al- 
ways been  taught,  "A  land  of  peace,  plenty  and  liberty."  I  shall 
illustrate  as  I  go  along  that  ever  dominant  phrase  throughout  the 


VARIED  ASPECTS  OF  THE  WAR  141 

German  Empire:  "In  the  event  of  war."  It  dominated  every 
German  mind  from  Potsdam  down. 

To-day  Germany  has  five  million  men  on  the  fighting  line. 
She  has  two  million  men  in  reserve,  and  she  has  three  million 
boys  between  the  ages  of  thirteen  and  sixteen  who,  in  three  years 
— which  is  the  very  shortest  possible  time  that  the  most  opti- 
mistic men  in  our  War  Department  look  and  hope  that  this  ter- 
rible struggle  will  end — who,  in  three  years,  will  have  reached 
the  very  height  of  German  military  efficiency.  Ambassador 
Gerard  the  other  day  went  a  little  better  by  saying  eleven  mil- 
lion. I  am  perfectly  willing  to  yield  to  Mr.  Gerard's  judgment, 
as  he  should  know.  Ten  million  men  on  the  line.  Remember 
the  finest  trained  and  most  efficient  fighting  machine  that  the 
world  has  ever  seen,  and  I  go  on  record  here  as  saying  that  the 
world  will  ever  see  again. 

Secondly,  let  me  tell  you  just  a  few  things  from  a  military 
standpoint  which  I  observed,  which  illustrate  the  marvelous  effi- 
ciency of  that  army.  I  was  struck  one  day  in  a  German  city  by 
the  coincidence  that  all  the  trades  wagons  throughout  the  various 
German  cities  that  I  had  just  visited,  while  the  tops  were  painted 
in  gaudy  colors,  advertising  the  various  businesses  and  wares  of 
the  merchants,  the  gearings  were  all  painted  in  what  we  call 
in  the  army,  "The  Army  B.  &  G." — black  and  gray.  When  I 
asked  my  friend  why  this  was,  he  laughed  with  that  German  sneer 
which  perhaps  some  of  you  know  so  well,  and  said,  "In  the  event 
of  war." 

As  I  called  your  attention  to  it  a  moment  ago,  I  want  you 
carefully  to  pay  attention  to  that  ever  dominant  phrase  in  the 
Prussian  mind :  "In  the  event  of  war."  Off  come  the  tops  in 
the  twinkling  of  an  eye.  The  gearings  are  all  standard  gauge, 
and  are  used  and  were  used  in  that  very  way,  in  conveying  muni- 
tions, supplies,  etc.,  to  the  various  German  frontiers — a  fine  piece 
of  military  efficiency. 

Again,  imagine  my  surprise,  when  I  was  conducted  in  a  cer- 
tain German  city  through  what,  some  years  previously,  was,  or 
seemed  to  be  a  warehouse.  I  was  shown  the  most  complete  hos- 
pital that  I  ever  saw  in  my  life ;  the  ground  floor  containing  forty 
rooms  with  portable  baths,  a  like  number  of  the  second,  third 
and  fourth  floors,  tiled,  sanitary,  throughout.  When  I  asked  my 
friend  how  this  was,  and  recalled  the  fact  that  I  had  visited  this 
warehouse,  again  he  replied,  "You  Americans  never  look  toward 
the  future.  In  the  event  of  war."  And  you  have  this  hospital 
— that  very  hospital  to-day  is  the  second  largest,  best  hospital  on 
the  German  frontier. 

Then,  every  single  telegraph  and  telephone  line  is  govern- 


142       ONE  HUNDRED  PER  CENT  AMERICAN 

ment-owned  in  Germany,  there  being  no  corporate-owned  lines. 
There  are  always  two  wires  which  are  controlled  and  used  ex- 
clusively by  the  army  and  navy,  for  no  other  purpose  whatever. 

At  the  declaration  of  war  by  Germany  on  France,  in  exactly 
thirteen  minutes  and  a  half,  instruments  were  attached  to  the 
various  termini  of  these  two  lines,  connecting  the  entire  German 
frontier  with  Wilhelmstrasse  in  that  space  of  time — a  marvel- 
ous piece  of  German  efficiency. 

Let  me  tell  you  that  to-day  the  system,  the  military  Prussian 
system,  is  so  inculcated  into  the  German,  as  my  friend  has  said, 
from  the  cradle  up,  that  as  I  sat  one  night  after  the  opera  in  a 
restaurant  in  Berlin,  I  was  struck  by  the  fact  that  all  the  guests 
there  were  in  evening  dress  except  one  man.  You,  as  Americans, 
and  some  of  us  as  Army  men,  know  that  it  has  ever  been  the 
custom  of  American  Army  officers  to  be  inconspicuous.  Imagine 
my  surprise  when  I  saw  this  Prussian  officer  of  very  high  rank 
walk  into  the  dining-room,  seat  himself  at  a  table  and  order  lav- 
ishly. In  a  moment  a  waiter  sidled  up  to  him — fortunately  he 
was  sitting  only  a  few  feet  from  me — I  saw  a  piece  of  paper  laid, 
in  front  of  him.    I  saw  him  leave  his  meal  half  eaten. 

Determined  to  see  or  follow  the  thing  as  far  as  I  was  able,  I 
followed  him  outside  into  the  courtyard,  heard  him  speak  a  very 
few  hurried  words  to  the  concierge  and  depart.  I  went  outside, 
and  there  stood  his  orderly  with  his  horse  all  ready  for  instant 
active  service.  He  clicked  his  heels  and  saluted  in  the  German 
fashion,  mounted  his  own  horse  and  drove  away.  What  I  finally 
found  out  was  that  that  officer  had  received  his  orders  at  that 
moment,  totally  unexpected.  I  asked  the  question  which  would 
naturally  arise  in  your  mind — how  that  man  was  to  be  found  at 
that  hour  of  the  day  or  night,  and  this  time  I  learned  that  there 
is  not  an  officer,  from  the  General  Staff  down,  in  Germany,  who 
is  not  within  two  hours'  orders  from  the  General  Staff.  Think 
of  that  for  German  efficiency! 

To  give  you  just  an  idea  (I  was  asked  to  bring  this  to  your 
attention)  of  the  arrogance  of  the  military  men,  I  was  standing  in 
a  hotel  one  evening  with  my  wife  and  family,  when  a  German 
Sub-Lieutenant  sidled  up  to  the  table,  tapped  me  on  the  arm, 
saluted  and  said,  "I  am  Lieutenant  So-and-so.  Present  me  to  the 
ladies."  I  had  no  idea  as  to  whether  it  was  a  joke  or  otherwise, 
at  first.  It  suddenly  occurred  to  me  that  I  thought  I  had  seen 
him  at  a  function  of  our  Ambassador's,  and  then,  after  deciding 
it  was  not  so,  I  said,  "I  will  ask  the  ladies  whether  they  would 

like  to  meet  you."    He  said,  "I  am  Lieutenant .     Present 

me  to  the  ladies."  I  said,  "In  my  country,  it  is  customary  to  con- 
sult the  ladies  as  to  whom  they  will  meet."    He  said,  "Do  you 


VARIED  ASPECTS  OF  THE  WAR  143 

know  who  I  am?    I  am  Lieutenant .     Present  me  to  the 

ladies."  My  good  American  blood  asserted  itself,  and  I  said, 
"I  don't  give  a  damn  who  you  are.  In  our  country  our  wives 
and  ladies  decide  whom  they  will  meet."  And  I  didn't  say  it,  I 
thought  it,  I  didn't  give  a  damn  whether  he  was  the  Kaiser  or 
not.  He  walked  away  and  said  I  should  hear  from  that.  I  never 
did!  As  Mr.  Gerard  says,  it  was  one  time  when  I  could  say 
"Damn"  with  an  American  punch. 

To  get  back  to  the  subject  in  hand.  I  want  to  tell  you  an 
alarming  piece  of  news.  In  the  first  place,  in  my  travels  through- 
out this  country,  I  find  that  not  five  per  cent  of  the  American 
people  to-day  realize  what  this  war  is.  I  don't  mean  to  cast  one 
aspersion  against  the  loyalty  and  Americanism  of  our  citizens 
throughout  this  land,  but  I  tell  you,  that  to-day  America  is  lit- 
erally asleep  and  you  don't  know,  but  I  shall  tell  you,  that  the 
very  dragon  of  the  Rhine  is  literally  at  your  front  door. 

I  go  into  these  towns  and  outside  of  these  service  flags  or 
some  war  charities,  there  isn't  a  single,  solitary  evidence  in  that 
city  that  this  country  is  at  war.  Men  are  spending  money  lavishly 
and  burning  up  thousands  of  gallons  of  gasoline  by  the  hour  in 
useless  joy-riding,  and  with  no  thought  that  right  at  your  very 
doors  are  things  which  will  literally  turn  your  blood  cold.  You 
don't  know  it ;  you  don't  know  it. 

When  you  take  the  peaceful  cities  of  the  world  where  nothing 
but  peace  reigns  and  turn  them  into  a  veritable  battlefield  of  Hell 
as  it  is  "over  there,"  when  that  grim  destroyer  has  struggled 
against  you  and  taken  its  toll,  when  on  every  third  door  hangs 
its  crape,  where  every  single  woman  is  some  widow  or  mother 
or  sister  in  mourning,  where  on  the  streets  you  can't  find  an  able- 
bodied  man  between  the  ages  of  thirteen  and  seventy  unless  he 
has  an  arm  or  leg  gone  or  face  smashed  or  gashed,  then  will 
America  realize  it;  but  realize  on  top  of  that  that  there  has 
never  been  any  doubt  in  the  minds  of  Americans  as  to  how  this 
war  will  end.  We  know  how  it  is  going  to  end,  but  it  is  the  price, 
it  is  the  price,  that  we  have  got  to  pay.  And  you  don't  know  and 
you  don't  realize  now,  scarcely  any  of  you,  what  it  means.  Why, 
it  means  the  very  sanctity  of  your  homes,  and  we  know  it,  and  we 
are  trying  to  tell  you  so  as  to  awaken  you  and  make  this  price  less. 

Oh,  there  has  been  too  much  talking  of  preparing  to  fight. 
We  have  got  to  prepare  to  win  and  win  quickly.  The  last  words 
that  General  Joffre  said  when  he  left  this  country  were  not  alone 
to  express  his  praise  and  gratitude  to  this  great  Republic  for  its 
entrance  into  this  fray,  but,  with  his  hands  outstretched  on  that 
vessel,  and  the  tears  streaming  down  his  face,  the  very  last  words 
he  said  were :    "For  God's  sake,  hurry  up."    And  I  tell  you  now 


144   ONE  HUNDRED  PER  CENT  AMERICAN 

that  you  don't  realize  how  much  you  have  to  hurry.  This  is  a 
war  of  preservation,  which  means  just  exactly  one  of  two  things. 
It  means  either  freedom  or  slavery  for  America. 

We  don't  care  to-day  what  a  man's  religion  or  his  creed  or  his 
color  is,  so  long  as  he  is  American  through  and  through.  No 
German-Americans  ;  no  English-Americans  ;  no  French- Ameri- 
cans; a  man  is  to-day  either  one  of  two  things  in  this  country; 
he  is  either  against  America,  or  for  her.  If  he  is  against  her,  then 
I  say  to  him  "Get  thee  hence  from  out  our  midst." 

We  have  a  national  job  to  attend  to  now,  in  which  all  petty 
jealousies  must  be  dispensed  with,  and  we  must  devote  our  re- 
sources and  energies  to  the  business  in  hand,  which  is  the  business 
of  winning  this  war. 

You  have  no  idea  of  the  foe  against  you,  until  you  know  and 
see  what  is  going  on  somewhere  "over  there."  Ask  yourselves 
the  question,  if  you  will,  What  right  have  you,  what  have  you 
done,  any  of  you  throughout  this  great  country,  what  have  you 
ever  done,  that  you  can  ask  my  boy  to  die  for  you,  or  your  neigh- 
bor's boy  to  die  for  you?  And  yet,  "somewhere  over  there," 
quietly,  we  have  got  thousands  of  our  boys,  boys  who  are  willing 
to  pay  the  supreme  price  that  you  may  live  in  peace  and  happiness, 
in  the  comfort  and  sanctity  of  your  own  homes,  and  they  ask  you, 
in  return,  to  do  your  bit. 

Oh,  and  yet  you  don't  realize  now  what  it  is.  We  were  forced 
into  this  war  finally,  after  what?  After  that  flag,  which  had 
never  yet  borne  the  record  of  being  defiled,  had  been  besmirched 
and  insulted ;  and  not  only  that,  but  our  very  national  honor  had 
been  trampled  under  foot,  our  citizens  had  been  murdered  on 
the  high  seas ;  for  the  moment  Germany  declared  that  war  zone 
and  told  us  where  we  could  and  where  we  could  not  go,  she  might 
just  as  well  have  told  us  that  we  could  not  go  outside  of  our 
three-mile  limit.  No  nation  can  tell  an  American,  so  long  as  he 
conducts  himself  as  such,  whether  or  when  or  where  on  the  high 
seas,  he  can  go.  But  for  every  single  boat  that  lies  whitening 
in  the  depths  of  the  Atlantic,  for  every  single  American  human 
life  that  has  been  sacrificed  for  this  tyrant,  this  German  murderer, 
I  tell  you,  Uncle  Sam  has  rendered  a  bill  and  not  until  his  ap- 
proval is  on  that  bill,  will  this  world  be  safe  for  democracy. 

But  we  have  sent  thousands  of  our  boys,  and  we  have  got  to 
send  five  million  men  to  the  firing  line.  How  many  of  you  men 
know  that  it  takes  four  soldiers  to  handle  every  other  soldier  on 
the  line  ?  Remember  that  a  million  men  "over  there"  don't  mean 
a  million  men  on  the  firing  line.  I  attended  a  banquet  recently 
with  one  of  our  great  military  strategists,  in  which  he  made  the 
remark  that  it  would  take  five  American  boys  in  khaki  to  handle 


VARIED  ASPECTS  OF  THE  WAR  145 

every  German.  That  German  is  there  behind  almost  impregnable 
force,  inviting  you,  "if  you  want  me,  come  and  get  me."  Ordi- 
narily, in  normal  times,  I  would  take  any  one  of  our  boys  in  khaki 
and  match  him  against  any  five  Germans  in  the  world ;  but  that 
brings  us  to  the  point  of  not  dodging  the  issues  as  they  are. 

Make  the  sacrifice.  Remember  that  Germany  has  been  suc- 
cessfully, connivingly  and  secretly  striving  for  this  very  catas- 
trophe for  the  last  forty-seven  years.  We  knew  it;  we  saw  it; 
but  we  felt  as  every  great,  Christian,  diplomatic  nation  did  too, 
that  it  would  never  be  allowed  to  come  to  the  preparation  and 
murder  of  millions  of  the  flower  of  youth  of  the  countries  of  the 
civilized  world. 

Take  Canada:  For  the  first  time,  General  Milburn  showed 
me  a  cablegram  announcing  casualties,  Canada's  sacrifice.  You 
think  you  have  done  your  bit,  you  think  that  America  has  sacri- 
ficed and  is  doing  her  part.  Why,  it  is  like  a  peace  conference 
as  compared  with  what  that  great  ally,  and  England  and  France 
have  to  this  moment  done.  Four  hundred  and  six  thousand  Ca- 
nadian boys,  the  very  flower  of  Canada,  out  of  a  population  of 
approximately  eight  million,  406,000  have  gone  over  seas,  and  in 
exactly  two  months,  or  eight  weeks  ago,  when  General  Milburn 
for  the  first  time  gave  out  the  figures,  he  said  that  186,000  had 
casualties.  Think  of  what  that  means,  you  men.  Just  compare 
the  pro  rata,  the  American  population,  to  get  America's  price. 
That  is  all  you  have  got  to  do,  if  you  think  there  won't  be  crape 
on  every  other  door  in  every  American  city.  You  take  England. 
Look  at  what  she  has  done.  The  first  thing  you  see  in  England 
to-day,  is  that  England  is  at  war,  and  it  is  the  business  of  war 
to  win.  Everything  is  laid  aside  except  that  very  object.  We 
must  win,  but  they  go  on  paying  their  supreme  penalty  and  price 
without  a  murmur ;  and  let  me  tell  you,  that  these  very  atrocities, 
these  very  horrors,  these  unspeakable  crimes  against  women  and 
girls  even,  the  butchery  of  soldiers  in  arms,  the  impaling  of  babes 
and  handing  them  to  their  half-crazed  mothers,  have  been  only 
a  part  of  it. 

Up  to  Germany's  entrance  into  war,  the  nations  had  solemnly 
agreed — I,  myself,  was  in  the  Hague  on  the  very  day  that  this 
treaty  was  signed — the  Ambassador  of  that  murderer,  William, 
agreeing  to  respect  the  rights  of  non-combatants  and  neutrals 
and  follow  the  international  laws  of  nations ;  and  up  to  Ger- 
many's entrance  into  this  war,  they  had  been  considered  a  civilized 
nation.  To-day  Germany  stands  branded  before  the  whole  world 
as  having  broken  every  single  law  of  God  and  man — every  single 
one.  She  has  respected  nothing.  She  sent  her  men  to  destroy 
wantonly  our  commercial  life — and  right  there  it  brings  me  to  a 


146       ONE  HUNDRED  PER  CENT  AMERICAN 

point  which  perhaps  is  as  grave  within  as  the  enemy  without,  and 
that  is,  this  propaganda,  this  enemy  within  our  midst. 

And  while  a  world  can  forgive  almost  any  crime,  to-day  I 
tell  you  that  the  most  despicable  creature  on  God's  earth  that 
calls  himself  a  man  and  breathes  the  breath  of  life,  is  an  ingrate. 
And  I  brand  von  Bernstorff  as  the  king  of  ingrates,  a  man  who, 
a  Minister,  came  to  this  country  and  under  the  very  guise  of  his 
highly  exalted  office  was  immune  from  our  law,  who  with  one 
hand  partook  of  our  hospitality  and  enjoyed  our  social  life,  and 
with  the  other  hand  was  trying  to  destroy  our  commercial  life  by 
imbroiling  us  with  our  neighbors,  Mexico  and  Japan.  It  will 
go  down  to  the  crack  of  doom  as  the  blackest  military  page  ever 
written,  and  that  was  where  his  dirty  hireling  not  only  defiled  a 
fellow-legation's  code,  but  von  Luxburg  issued  that  order  which 
to-day  is  looked  upon  as  the  vilest,  most  damnable  order  that  was 
ever  issued  from  a  human  mouth,  that  spurlos  versunkt.  Noth- 
ing more  brutal  will  ever  go  down  in  history  than  the  taking  of 
those  twenty-one  men,  removing  their  life-belts  and  their  life- 
boats, and  then  leaving  those  souls  to  fulfill  that  damnable  spurlos 
versunkt.  Nobody  will  ever  know  how  many  souls  have  paid 
that  penalty.  But  a  great  Deity  interposed.  One  of  those  men 
was  spared  to  bring  back  that  order  of  German  intrigue. 

I  tell  you  that  America  hates  an  ingrate.  Even  a  dog  will  not 
bite  the  hand  that  feeds  him,  but  that  is  just  a  part  of  Prus- 
sianism  to-day,  and  it  is  nothing  more  or  less  than  the  utter  anni- 
hilation of  everything  opposed  to  Germany.  It  is  nothing  more 
or  less  than  a  cool,  calculating,  deliberate  march  to  murder.  That 
is  all. 

In  the  first  place,  Germany,  while  her  big  men  were  masquer- 
ading before  the  world  as  statesmen,  in  reality  they  have  proved 
themselves  to  be  the  rottenest,  most  colossal  blunderers  the  world 
has  ever  seen.  She  had  the  effrontery  and  the  audacity  to  believe 
that  Italy,  the  very  country  which  she  had  robbed  of  her  Adriatic 
provinces,  would  cast  her  lot  with  Germany  and  Austria.  Aus- 
tria! who  had  grabbed  her  railroads  and  banks  and  commerce 
with  a  firm  German  grip  which  was  not  pleasant  to  feel. 

And  then  Belgium — and  when  I  say  "Belgium"  my  heart 
goes  out  to  those  poor  souls — if  you  knew  the  horrors  and  the  suf- 
fering that  patient  little  Belgium  has  borne,  the  very  spirit  within 
you  would  rise  up  and  call  "Vengeance."  I  could  tell  you  things 
that  have  happened  in  Bergium  that  would  freeze  the  blood  in  your 
veins.  Don't  go  out  from  here  and  say  these  atrocities  are  hear- 
say. They  have  been  minimized  a  hundred  times  where  they 
have  been  magnified  once.  But  Germany  thought  that  Belgium, 
for  the  sake  of  peace,  would  allow  that  great  German  fighting 


VARIED  ASPECTS  OF  THE  WAR  147 

machine  to  cross  over  and  make  an  armed  camp  of  her  country, 
with  the  ultimate,  certain  destiny  of  Antwerp  as  a  German  sea- 
port town.  You  must  remember  that  all  along,  Germany  had 
felt  that  England  would  not  enter  this  conflict.  On  that  mem- 
orable day  of  August  4th,  1914,  I  know  that  the  German  Am- 
bassador had  sent  word  to  his  imperial  master  at  Potsdam  that 
he  was  unable  to  say  for  the  life  of  him  just  what  England  would 
do  in  the  event  of  war  between  France  and  Germany.  The  very 
next  day  England  staggered  the  world  by  her  declaration  of  war 
against  Germany,  and  that  same  Ambassador  was  constantly 
watched  day  and  night  to  prevent  him  from  committing  suicide 
because  of  his  inability  to  get  word  to  his  master  of  England's 
position  in  the  situation. 

Do  you  know  that  the  German  Ambassador  to  France  ap- 
peared in  public  places  in  the  city  of  Paris  and  invited  insult? 
So  acute  did  the  situation  become  that  the  Prefect  of  Police  issued 
declarations  imploring  the  people  not  to  offer  any  umbrage  to 
this  man,  that  his  sole  object  was  to  fasten  responsibility  on 
France. 

And  lastly,  England.  Germany  knew  that  England  was  having 
troubles  with  her  own  armies.  It  was  a  matter  of  record  that 
the  English  Army  officers  had  resigned  their  commissions  rather 
than  fight  against  their  own  men  in  the  Ulster  uprising,  and  Ger- 
many had  the  audacity  to  believe  that  England,  for  the  sake  of 
peace,  could  be  bribed  into  a  state  of  degraded  pacivity,  while 
she  crushed  her  ally,  France. 

Do  you  know  that  von  Jagow  literally  wept  when  he  was  un- 
able to  convince  the  English  Ambassador  that  an  international 
treaty  was  nothing  but  a  mere  "scrap  of  paper"?  In  failing  to 
realize  that  England  possessed  a  national  sense  of  honor,  a  thing 
that  was  an  absolute  stranger  to  Germany,  which  Britons  to  the 
end  of  the  world  would  defend  with  their  lives  and  their  last  dol- 
lar, I  tell  you  again,  von  Jagow  and  his-  partners  committed  a 
gigantic,  colossal  German  blunder,  a  blunder  which  even  a  child 
with  a  simple  taste  of  history  never  would  have  made.  To-day 
the  blundering  of  the  Imperial  William  and  his  cabinet  stand  out 
as  plainly  as  the  pyramids  of  Egypt.  Germany  had  judged  Eng- 
land by  herself. 

Lastly,  we  come  to  America,  a  country  of  money-loving  peo- 
ple. We  were  making  money  so  fast  in  this  country  that  it  be- 
came a  question  of  how  to  spend  it.  Germany  knew  all  this, 
through  her  great  espionage  system  which  covered  every  foot  of 
civilized  territory,  and  she  knew  to  a  gun  and  a  man  what  we 
had,  what  England  and  the  other  Allied  countries  had.  Through 
that  system  she  knew  that  we  were  a  people  "slow  to  anger"; 


148      ONE  HUNDRED  PER  CENT   AMERICAN 

i 
'  \.  i  ,-w  n  the 

J  in  the 
j 

he  verj  \  erge  of  w  ai 

i 

ended 
-  ■■'  patient 

A- 
ovej 
die  words 

Howe\  v     ac  oss  the  sea,  across 
the  ec 

.   e   was  .-.  man   within  tho 
.  ■  . 

merely 
ask  ■ .  -  .  and  « 

s 
>ur  hands 
\ U  I  until  then 
willy  .  ake  to  \\ in 

.:   and  it  is 

--. 

o  has 
p  eat 

raare- 
necks    -  i  it  yet    At  the 

.':  say  W 

>'■  >  like?   He  has  a 

looks  just  ex 
so! 

is    1 

: 


VARIED  ASPECTS  OF  THE  WAR  i4«j 

thai  Hell  over  there,  has  been  the  British  fled  and  the  French 
Army.  Not  down  to  the  crack  of  doom  will  we  ever  be  able 
to  pay  the  debl  thai  v.  o  England  and  France  and  [taly 

Yon  don't  know  what  it  is.  Why,  to  day  France  is  bled 
white.  I  don't  mean  bled  white  in  one  way,  from  fear;  I  mean 
from  lack  of  men.  To  Hay  she  has  reached  the  end  of  her  tether. 
She  is  crying  to  us  to  take  the  pla< e  of  the  thirty  million  man- 
power of  I'n  ia  v.hi'  li  is  to  day  eliminated  from  the  contest,  e  i  ti 
from  ili':  point  of  view  of  the  defensive.  Some  weeks  ago,  the 
least  we  hoped  was  that  we  might  form  something  out  of  this  cha- 
oti<  Russian  State,  which  might  mean  somewhat  of  a  mild  de- 
feni  iv  on  the  Western  from  ;  and  to  'lay  America  has  been  asked 
to  fnl  the  breach  of  a  thirty  million  man  po 

Wc  owe  France  a  debt  that  only  God  Almighty  knows  the 
magnitude  of;  France  who  loaned  us  her  money  during  our  great 
struggle  and  men  who  sacrificed  their  lives  that  this  country 
might  be  what  it  is  to  day;  and  now  she  is  calling  for  help.  She 
is  asking  yon  to  come  and  help  her.  AikI  J  tell  you  that  while 
America  stands  for  free  speech  and  fr<<;  thought,  f  would  hate  to 
think  thai  there  was  a  man  living  to-day  in  America  who  at  this 
time  would  think  or  say  ill  of  America.  France  is  calling.  Italy 
has  made  one  of  the  greatest  defensive  moves  that  has  < 
known.  Awl  that  retreat  at  the  Battle  of  the  Marne — if  you 
knew  the  inside  of  it  -will  go  down  in  military  history  as  the 
greatest  piece  of  military  strategy  that  the  world  lias  ever  known. 
Not  only  has  General  Joffre  been  the  Saviour  of  the  Maine. 
This  I  can  say  truthfully,  that  to-day  he  is  the  Saviour  of  the 
workl.    That  was  a  magnificent  piece  of  strategy. 

\'<  ferring  once  more  to  your  fluty,  let  me  remind  you  again 
that  those  boys-  -my  boy  is  fighting  your  battles;  they  ask  for  no 
reward.  They  only  ask  you  to  come  and  be  big  enough  for  the 
task.  This  is  no  time  for  destrw  live  criti<  ism.  It  is  a  time  when 
every  man  may  lay  aside  everything  personal  and  turn  his  ener- 
gies to  this  great  task  which  confronts  the  nations  in  the  world. 

Those  hoys  in  the  war:  Why  did  you,  the  first  time  the 
ualty  list  was  published,  why  did  every  eye  in  this  ^reat  eountry 
Scan  with  burning  eyes  that  list,  why?  For  the  same  reason,  I 
think,  that  there  might  he  amon^  that  list  some  boy  of  some  friend 
or  neighbor.  Is  it  necessary  for  Amerirans  to  see  newspapers 
filled  with  column  after  column,  filled  with  the  dead,  to  see  some 
transport  filled  with  the  flower  of  our  youth,  before  we  win  ?  Xo  ! 
A  thousand  times  no!  America  will  awake,  but  I  say  in  the  words 
of  that  immortal  soldier,  "For  God's  sake,  hurry  up." 


150       ONE  HUNDRED  PER  CENT  AMERICAN 


THREE:     HONORABLE  WILLIAM  M.  CALDER 

United  States  Senator 

You  had  at  your  meeting  last  Saturday  two  men  who  have 
contributed  more  to  the  legislation  enacted  at  Washington  since 
we  declared  war,  than  any  other  two  members  of  either  the 
House  of  Representatives  or  the  Senate.  Senator  Chamberlain 
has  had  charge  in  the  Senate,  not  only  of  all  the  important  bills 
dealing  with  the  war  problem,  for  he  is  Chairman  of  the  Sen- 
ate Committee  on  Military  Affairs,  but,  because  of  the  fact  that 
the  Chairman  of  the  Committee  on  Agriculture  refused  to  han- 
dle the  legislation  dealing  with  the  conservation  of  food,  he  was 
also  called  upon  to  take  charge  of  that  measure  during  the  two 
long  months  that  it  was  under  consideration  in  the  Senate  last 
summer. 

He  came  to  you  with  an  extraordinary  amount  of  information 
and  with  a  knowledge  of  the  affairs  of  the  Government  unexcelled 
by  any  other  man  at  Washington.  He  got  in  serious  trouble  be- 
cause of  his  speech  here  last  Saturday,  and,  perhaps  I  ought  to 
refrain  from  following  in  his  footsteps. 

Senator  Chamberlain  is  a  member  of  the  same  party  to  which 
the  President  belongs.  I  am  not;  and  perhaps  for  that  reason, 
it  would  be  more  improper  for  me  to  criticize  than  it  was  for 
him.  Many  of  us  at  Washington  have  been  exceedingly  careful 
concerning  our  criticisms  about  the  things  that  have  displeased  us. 
There  are  those  of  my  party  who  have  often  felt  constrained  to 
express  their  opinions,  but  have  been  afraid  that  we  would  be 
charged  with  playing  politics.  Let  me  say  to  this  audience  there 
has  been  no  political  speech  uttered  in  the  Senate  by  a  Republican 
in  serious  criticism  of  the  Government;  and  solely  because  we 
were  fearful  that  what  we  said  might  be  misconstrued.  A  dis- 
tinguished resident  of  this  State  said  at  a  little  private  gathering 
in  Washington  the  other  day  that  he  thought  this  was  the  "open 
season"  for  telling  the  truth ! 

We  Republicans  in  Congress,  in  the  main,  have  voted  for 
every  single  thing  asked  for  by  the  Government,  dealing  with 
the  war.  Your  two  Republican  Senators  and  every  Republican . 
Representative  from  this  State  have,  without  exception,  on  every 
occasion,  stood  by  the  President.  When  the  Draft  Bill  was 
enacted  some  months  ago,  many  more  Republicans,  in  proportion 
to  the  size  of  our  representation  in  both  Houses,  voted  for  this 
measure  than  did  the  gentlemen  of  the  President's  party;  and  so 
I  think  it  can  fairly  be  said  that  we  have  not  unjustly  found  fault. 


VARIED  ASPECTS  OF  THE  WAR  151 

Now,  how  far  can  men  go  in  criticism,  so  that  criticism  may 
be  helpful?  We  have  gone  along  now,  for  nearly  ten  months. 
It  seems  to  me  the  time  has  arrived  when  men  have  a  right  to 
speak  out  fairly  and  honestly,  always  sticking  strictly  to  the  truth. 
I  think  it  is  just  to  say  that  our  Secretary  of  War  has  done  pretty 
well.  He  has  had  a  great  problem ;  but  the  trouble  is  not  so 
much  with  him  as  with  the  neglect  to  get  ready  months  before 
we  went  into  the  war.  The  Secretary  of  War  has  failed  to  un- 
derstand the  magnitude  of  the  problem.  It  has  seemed  to  me 
for  many  months  that  what  we  needed  at  Washington  was  just 
plain,  business  planning.  If  we  had  planned  last  Spring  for 
our  coal  situation,  if  we  had  just  had  some  one  in  charge  of 
coal  matters — I  mean  some  one  with  knowledge  of  the  coal 
business — I  am  certain  we  would  have  had  no  trouble  in  sup- 
plying the  needs  of  the  people.  If  we  had  had  some  one  who 
had  knowledge  of  shipbuilding  at  the  head  of  the  Shipping 
Board  from  the  beginning,  and  had  kept  him  there,  we  would 
have  had  no  trouble  with  our  shipbuilding  scheme,  and  so  right 
down  the  line. 

I  am  hopeful  that,  inasmuch  as  we  have  begun  to  criticize  con- 
structively, that  when  the  President  gets  over  being  angry,  he 
will  realize  that  no  one  is  trying  to  drag  him  down,  but  that  every 
single  one  of  us  at  Washington  is  more  interested,  much  more 
interested,  a  hundred-fold  more  interested,  in  winning  this  war 
than  we  are  in  taking  party  advantage.  At  the  same  time  I 
don't  think  it  is  fair  that  because  we  may  differ  with,  the  Presi- 
dent in  party  politics,  that  we  should  be  asked  to  lie  down  com- 
pletely and  give  up  our  party. 

I  am  going  to  make  a  statement  that  will  be  interesting,  and 
I  hope  I  shall  not  offend  any  Democrats  who  may  be  here.  We 
are  going  to  have  a  Congressional  election  in  New  York  City  in  a 
few  weeks  to  fill  vacancies  caused  by  the  resignation  of  four 
Democratic  members  of  Congress.  These  gentlemen  resigned 
their  seats  to  better  their  conditions !  I  ask  if  it  will  be  unpa- 
triotic for  the  members  of  our  party  to  contest  for  those  four 
seats  ? 

As  against  the  record  of  these  four  members,  it  can  be  pointed 
out  that  four  Republicans  also  resigned  their  seats  in  Congress, 
not  to  better  their  financial  condition,  but  to  offer  their  lives  for 
their  country.  One  of  these,  a  man  who  served  ten  years  in 
the  House  of  Representatives  with  me,  Major  Gardner,  has  al- 
ready given  up  his  life.  Another,  a  Representative  from  the 
District  just  below  where  this  Club  House  is  situated,  Congress- 
man La  Guardia,  is  now  with  the  Aviation  Corps  in  Italy.  An- 
other, a  Republican  from  Ohio,  is  Lieutenant  Colonel  in  the  Na- 


152   ONE  HUNDRED  PER  CENT  AMERICAN 

tional  Army;  the  fourth,  a  private  soldier  enlisting  from  the 
State  of  Washington,  is  with  the  Army,  at  Camp  Meade.  And  so 
I  submit  it  is  fair  to  maintain  that  Republicans  in  Congress  have 
done  their  best  to  help  the  Government,  and  will  continue  to  do 
so  until  the  war  is  over. 

There  is  one  thing  that  has  troubled  me  much,  and  it  is  a 
thing  which  I  fear  we  haven't  quite  taken  care  of  properly.  The 
gentlemen  present,  who  have  studied  the  Russian  problem,  I  am 
sure,  realize  the  difficulties  of  it  and  our  neglect  of  it.  In  the 
days  preceding  the  Russian  Revolution,  Russia  was  rilled  with 
German  propaganda.  We  made  no  effort  to  offset  it.  The 
revolution  came,  a  bloodless  one,  in  fact,  and  a  group  of  men 
liberated  from  the  yoke  of  autocracy  took  hold  of  the  government. 
I  think  it  can  fairly  be  said  by  those  who  know  him  that  Kerensky 
is  one  of  the  greatest  patriots  this  world  ever  produced.  Keren- 
sky  failed.  He  had  to  deal  with  a  people  of  whom  ninety  per 
cent,  could  neither  read  nor  write.  He  failed  and  another  group 
have  taken  hold.  Perhaps  some  of  us  do  not  sympathize  with 
that  group;  but  those  men  represent  an  element  in  Russia;  and 
despite  the  fact  that  we  may  not  be  in  accord  with  their  views 
nor  with  the  things  they  stand  for,  it  seems  to  me  the  duty  of  our 
people  at  least  to  accord  them  sympathy  and  moral  aid. 

If  I  had  my  way  about  it,  I  would  have  the  Russian  rulers 
of  to-day  understand  that  we  are  not  engaged  in  an  effort  to  de- 
stroy them.  Theirs  is  the  only  government  in  Russia,  and  perhaps 
the  very  fact  that  it  is  a  radical  government,  in  the  end,  may  con- 
tribute much  for  peace.  Have  you  ever  stopped  to  think  of 
the  danger  in  which  Germany  will  be  if  she  makes  peace  with 
radical  Russia  and  the  things  that  radical  Russia  stands  for? 
Can  Germany  afford  to  make  peace  with  that  sort  of  a  Russia? 
I  am  not  a  prophet  and  don't  know  what  the  next  day  or  two 
may  bring  forth;  but  I  rather  doubt  if  Germany  will  make  seri- 
ous peace  with  Trotzky  and  Lenine  and  the  cause  that  they 
represent.  And  so,  if  I  had  my  way  about  it,  I  would  have 
to-day  in  Russia,  working  with  our  Red  Cross  and  with  the 
Young  Men's  Christian  Association — both  institutions  doing  won- 
derful work  in  Russia — I  would  have  working  with  them  a  group 
of  men  who  could  instill  in  the  minds  of  the  Russian  people  the 
things  that  our  country  stands  for  and  the  sympathy  that  we 
have  for  all  men  who  are  struggling  for  liberty. 

We  have  difficult  problems  to  solve  to-day  and  we  have  such 
confidence  in  our  own  people  that  we  are  certain  they  will  be 
solved,  with  the  help  of  every  man  and  woman  in  America  do- 
ing their  part.  I  hope  that  before  this  session  of  Congress  ad- 
journs, legislation  will  be  enacted  tagging  every  man  and  woman 


VARIED  ASPECTS  OF  THE  WAR  153 

from  eighteen  to  sixty  and  then  putting  all  of  us  to  work  where 
we  can  do  the  most  good  for  the  cause.  The  able-bodied  men 
between  twenty-one  and  thirty  are  required  to  go,  and  there  is  no 
reason  why  those  of  us  who  have  passed  thirty  should  sit  idly 
by  and  let  the  boys  bear  the  entire  brunt  of  the  conflict. 

And  so,  gentlemen,  let  there  be  a  consecration  anew  to  the 
great  undertaking  in  which  we  are  engaged.  Our  forefathers 
made  sacrifices  that  this  country  might  exist.  The  long  years 
that  they  struggled  and  the  many  brave  men  who  died  willingly 
that  we  might  have  liberty  here  must  indeed  be  an  inspiration  to 
every  thinking  man  of  to-day.  And  so  in  the  days  of  the  Re- 
bellion, when  the  men  of  this  land  struggled  to  keep  the 
country  together  and  to  free  a  portion  of  the  human  race,  what 
an  inspiration  these  two  great  wars  should  be  to  the  man  of 
to-day ! 

Sacrifice  ?  We  have  made  no  sacrifice  yet.  We  may  be  asked 
to  make  serious  sacrifices,  for  the  sake  of  our  children  and  our 
grandchildren ;  we  should  willingly  make  any  sacrifice  we  are 
called  upon  to  make,  even  if  it  means  giving  up  our  lives.  We 
have  but  one  life  to  give,  as  the  great  Nathan  Hale  said.  Let  us 
give  it  willingly. 


FOUR:  BY  REVEREND  GEORGE  R.  VAN  DE  WATER,  D.D. 

I  am  glad  to  see  this  congregation  has  increased  since  I  turned 
my  back  on  it.     That  is  not  the  usual  experience. 

I  want  to  make  a  correction  in  the  interests  of  truth.  Al- 
though I  have  never  been  unwilling  to  sail  under  the  flag  of  Co- 
lumbia, I  am  unwilling  that  you  should  any  longer  think  that  I 
am  the  present  Chaplain  of  Columbia  University.  When  the 
time  came,  after  fifteen  years  of  very  pleasant  and  to  me  profit- 
ble  service,  as  Chaplain  of  the  University,  when  there  was  a 
resident  body  of  students,  it  became  necessary  to  have  a  resident 
Chaplain,  and  now  for  several  years  one  of  my  naming  and  ap- 
proval has  been  the  Chaplain  of  Columbia. 

During  the  last  three  or  four  years,  there  have  been  times 
when  my  interest  in  Columbia  University  made  me  wish  that  if 
possible  some  influence,  even  of  a  Chaplain,  might  be  brought 
to  bear  to  intensify  the  strength  of  its  patriotism.  But  during 
the  last  year,  my  heart  is  rejoiced  that  Columbia  University, 
through  its  Board  of  Trustees,  has  taken  action  and  enacted  leg- 
islation which,  faithful  to  the  tradition  of  Alexander  Hamilton 
and  other  patriots  of  that  estimable  institution,  has  put  patriot- 


154   ONE  HUNDRED  PER  CENT  AMERICAN 

ism  to  the  front  and  magnified  the  liberty  of  the  world  over  any 
consideration  of  professorial  or  academic  freedom. 

Now,  I  am  afraid  I  am  banking  a  little  too  much  on  your 
physical  strength,  or  if  not  that,  your  courtesy  to  me.  I  really 
do  feel  that  you  have  heard  enough,  and  I  am  so  anxious  that 
you  should  not  forget  anything  you  have  heard,  that  I  not  only 
have  gladly  relinquished  my  time,  but  would  stop  this  minute  if 
I  thought  you  would  forget  a  word  you  have  heard.  But  if  age 
has  taught  anything  and  experience  justified  me  in  the  conceit  that 
I  can  perhaps  sum  up  the  questions  that  have  been  presented  to 
you  at  this  memorable  meeting,  I  shall  be  glad  to  do  something 
that  will  help  the  noblest  cause  that  was  ever  presented  to  the 
mind  and  heart  and  conscience  of  man. 

First,  you  will  allow  me  to  confess  to  a  little  overconscious- 
ness,  in  your  presence,  of  the  fact  that  I  am  the  only  minister 
present,  so  far  as  I  know.  That  does  not  make  me  feel  lonely, 
but  it  makes  me  throw  myself,  as  it  were,  on  your  charity.  There 
have  been  reasons  in  the  last  few  years  why  one  should  recall 
what  Charles  Lamb  is  said  to  have  said  on  one  occasion  when 
he  spoke  of  the  human  race  as  divided  into  three  classes :  men, 
women  and  ministers. 

I  have  been  reading  in  the  last  twenty-four  hours  what  I  con- 
sider one  of  the  strongest  articles  of  the  war,  in  the  February 
number  of  the  Atlantic  Monthly,  entitled — words  familiar  to  me; 
I  don't  know  whether  they  are  to  you — "And  Peter  Sat  by  the 
Fire  Warming  Himself."  I  tell  you,  I  felt  as  if  my  skin  had  been 
taken  off  my  body,  and  I  was  being  larruped  with  it.  Buy  a  copy 
and  read  it.  It  will  do  you  no  harm  to  buy  also  the  December 
and  January  numbers,  because  there  is  an  article  in  the  January 
number  on  "The  Decline  of  the  Betini,"  written  by  two  people 
of  the  name  of  Phillips,  telling  exactly  the  influence  upon  a  com- 
munity of  such  rotten  philosophy  as  has  obsessed  the  mind  of 
the  Germans;  and  also  in  the  December  number  of  1917  of  the 
Atlantic  Monthly  there  is  one  of  the  best  articles  written  on  the 
war,  by  Andre  Cheradame,  in  which  he  hints  at  the  important  con- 
siderations of  paying  attention  to  the  Eastern  as  well  as  the  West- 
ern front,  and  giving  our  aid  and  assistance  to  a  war  of  little  gov- 
ernments of  peoples  desiring  freedom. 

Now,  my  friends,  certainly  not  since  the  Civil  War,  if  during 
the  Civil  War,  have  the  citizens  of  this  country  been  compelled 
to  face  such  calamitous  conditions  as  exist  to-day.  They  have 
been  rehearsed  to  us  in  a  very  academic  manner  to-day.  It  was 
entirely  proper  and  appropriate  that  when  you  were  fresh,  ready 
in  mind  to  listen  to  the  first  utterances,  you  should  have  been 
asked  to  sit  here  as  university  students  and  listen  to  what  was  a 


VARIED  ASPECTS  OF  THE  WAR  155 

recital  of  historic  facts  to  justify  the  conclusions  drawn;  that, 
however  horrible  the  action  of  our  enemy,  that  action  is  entirely 
consistent  with  everything  that  history  has  recorded  of  that 
people. 

You  know  you  may  love  a  man  never  so  much,  but  you  love 
him  a  little  more  when  he  says  the  things  you  like  to  have  said. 
I  have  been  thinking  for  a  month  or  two  back,  'way  back  in  my 
summer  vacation,  how  marvelous  it  is  that  the  present  German 
attitude  is  a  mere  recrudescence  of  what  I  read  in  Julius  Caesar's 
Commentaries  on  the  Gallic  War,  and  I  was  tickled  to  death  when 
this  historic  scholar, — for  that  is  what  he  is ;  I  don't  care  what 
he  does — rehearsed  for  us  the  lines  of  history  as  given  by  that 
great  general  and  analyst,  Julius  Caesar. 

We  are,  fortunately,  past  the  time  of  urging  preparedness. 
We  are  so  scared  to  death  we  now  urge  speediness.  I  have  been 
reading  all  my  life  that  the  wicked  flee  when  no  man  pursueth ; 
but  I  have  always  observed  that  they  make  better  time  when  pur- 
sued! 

The  wicked  will  flee:  that  is  the  message  that  I  have  to  de- 
liver to  you  to-day.  I  want  it  to  be  the  message  of  optimism, 
the  last  you  hear  to-day.  Don't  be  discouraged;  don't  discount 
a  thing  you  have  heard  said.  Believe  it  all;  anticipate  what  is 
sure  to  come.  Don't  be  mean  enough,  when  you  have  taken  a 
Liberty  Bond,  to  think  you  have  sacrificed  anything,  because  it 
is  a  good  investment,  unless  the  Germans  come  over  here,  and 
then  there  is  no  such  thing  as  an  investment.  Don't  criticize 
the  income  tax  nor  the  surtax.  No  man  is  surtaxed  who  isn't  a 
lucky  dog.  Any  fellow,  including  myself,  can  afford  to  pay  his 
income  tax,  so  long  as  he  can  go  to  bed  at  night  and  feel  he  has 
paid  his  debts  and  has  enough  left  to  live  on.  If  he  has  anything 
over  two  thousand  dollars  left  for  himself  and  his  wife,  he  is 
a  mean  thing  if  he  grumbles. 

Be  willing  to  suffer.  We  shall  have  to,  but  I  don't  want  you 
to  suffer  too  much  in  mind. 

I  have  dismissed  the  speech  I  had  in  mind  for  this  afternoon. 
I  think  there  will  be  three  points  to  my  talk;  three  reasons  for 
optimism. 

The  first  is,  "A  tree  is  known  by  its  fruits."  But  the  fruits 
are  determined  by  its  roots.  And  the  roots  of  the  German  tree 
are  rotten.  Ideals  rule  the  world.  Whether  the  Germans  be- 
lieve it  or  not,  they  rule  the  world,  in  Congress,  in  Wall  Street, 
in  Church.  Ideals ;  they  are  the  things  that  stir  the  heart.  What 
is  there  in  a  beautiful  poem  that  sends  a  thrill  through  you  or 
maybe  a  tear  to  your  eye  ?  It  is  an  old  story,  but  "I  love  to  tell 
the  old,  old  story,  of  Jesus  and  His  love."     He  who  preached 


156   ONE  HUNDRED  PER  CENT  AMERICAN 

peace  was  indignant  in  the  presence  of  monstrosity  and  wrong. 
He  scorned  not  to  call  the  religious  leaders  hypocrites  and  vipers ; 
He  drove  traders  and  traffickers  out  of  the  Temple  with  a  whip 
lash ;  and  although  He  loved  a  sinner  enough  to  die  for  him,  He 
never  compromised  with  sin.  Nor,  in  my  judgment,  will  any 
true  follower  of  His,  layman  or  clergyman,  ever  be  so  mealy- 
mouthed,  so  muzzle-mouthed  that  he  will  do  any  such  miserable 
thing. 

Wrong  is  wrong,  and  right  the  day  must  win; 
And  to  doubt  would  be  disloyalty; 
To  falter  would  be  sin. 

I  am  very,  very  sorry  that  there  has  been  no  voice  speaking 
the  English  language  in  Church  or  in  religious  assemblies  in 
America,  in  the  ranks  of  the  clergy,  during  this  war,  to  compare 
with  that  magnificent  "St.  John,"  I  call  him,  "At  the  Cross,"  Car- 
dinal Mercier  of  Belgium. 

It  is  some  satisfaction  to  me  to  know,  possibly  due  to  the  fact 
that  I  had  experience  and  training  under  so  gifted  a  Christian 
and  military  leader  as  General  Greene,  that  from  the  very  be- 
ginning of  this  war,  I  have  been  consistent,  and  have  not  felt 
called  upon  for  any  consideration  of  Germans  in  my  parish,  and 
I  have  them,  to  cease  speaking  out  boldly  against  vice  and  wrong. 

Now,  Germany  is  not  going  to  succeed.  Pray  and  pray; 
shell  out  for  shells ;  do  your  utmost  to  conquer  an  enemy,  who 
unconquered,  will  conquer  the  world  and  destroy  it.  But,  don't 
get  discouraged.  Germany  cannot  succeed.  Do  you  know  why? 
Because  there  is  a  God  in  the  Heavens.  And  there  is  truth  yet  in 
the  world,  waiting  for  triumph.  Old  Samson  gives  us  a  riddle, 
and  tells  us  that  you  can  get  honey  out  of  a  carcass.  Shakespeare, 
in  later  times,  with  whom  perhaps  most  of  you  are  more  familiar, 
tells  us  that  there  are 

" — Tongues  in  trees,  books  in  the  running  brooks, 
Sermons  in  stones,  and  good  in  every  thing." 

Well,  I  take  my  religion  and  patriotism  from  Samson's  riddle 
and  Shakespeare's  saying.  I  have  already  found  a  great  deal  of 
honey  in  this  miserable  old  carcass  of  war.  Why,  we  have  come 
to  have  a  vision.  Everybody  I  see  is  better  already.  We  would 
not  have  asked  for  it;  but  since  it  had  to  come,  we  have  been 
getting  nearer  together,  and  may  I  not  reverently  say,  we  have 
been  getting  a  good  deal  nearer  to  God.  People  are  thinking  now, 
seriously.  You  know,  I  go  into  a  club  now  and  then,  and  it  is 
the  rarest  thing  in  the  world  ever  to  hear  a  champagne  cork  pop. 
Some  men  who  have  been  accustomed  to  saying,  "I  am  going  to 


VARIED  ASPECTS  OF  THE  WAR  157 

have  a  cigar"  either  don't  smoke  as  much  as  they  did,  or  they 
don't  smoke  at  all.  Where  the  bread  used  to  be  rolling  around, 
now  you  pay  ten  cents  more  for  having  it,  and  get  one  little  piece, 
not  very  good  at  that,  and  you  are  glad  to  do  it,  feeling  that  you 
must  do  without  something.  We  will  wear  our  old  clothes.  We 
will  not  order  another  pair  of  shoes  when  we  have  fifteen  in  the 
closet.  We  are  ready  and  willing  to  serve  a  good  cause.  Women 
are  knitting.  I  tell  them,  except  during  prayers,  to  knit  in 
church.  Children  are  asking  what  they  can  do,  and  they  are 
glad  to  turn  in  their  money  for  the  war  needs.  All  these  things 
are  the  results  of  a  beautiful  vision  of  a  world  made  free,  of  an 
oppressed  people  finding  their  liberty.  And  I  will  tell  you  an- 
other thing  that  is  most  magnificent.  I  have  been  worrying  a 
good  deal  about  it,  because  I  have  it  very  near  to  my  heart.  ^  I 
don't  think  many  in  the  country  ever  succeed  who  think  'This  life 
is  the  only  life  to  live" ;  but  I  have  been  surprised  by  the  rank 
materialism  that,  largely  due  to  German  propaganda,  expresses 
itself  in  this  fashion :  "Well,  I  don't  know  what  is  coming  after. 
I  am  an  agnostic,"  said  with  more  pride  than  intelligence.  Read 
your  war  books.  Talk  with  the  men  in  the  trenches.  What  do 
they  say?  Listen:  "Long  life  is  nothing;  a  well  filled  life  is 
everything."  Of  course,  Nathan  Hale  lived  longer  than  Methu- 
selah, because  life  is  not  made  up  of  moments,  days  or  years ; 
but  of  deeds;  and  the  man  who  dies  young  living  right,  lives 
longer  than  the  indulgent,  satiated  old  citizen  who  cares  only^  for 
self  and  for  nothing  beside  as  if  Jesus  Christ  had  never  lived 
and  as  if  He  had  never  died.  That  is  the  honey  we  are  getting 
out  of  the  carcass,  and  that  is  the  soul  that  we  are  getting  out  of 
evil,  and  that  ought  to  make  us  cheerful  and  happy. 

Why,  Mr.  Senator,  should  you  limit  the  age  to  sixty!  Don't 
throw  me  out.  I  have  been  holding  on  to  63  until  the  first  of 
January.  After  that,  since  I  am  64  in  April,  I  am  ashamed  to  say 
"63."  Immediately  on  the  proclamation  of  war,  I  wrote  to  a  state 
official  and  said,  "What  can  an  old  fellow  63  do?  I  can  do  some- 
thing, and  I  want  to  do  something."  He  wrote  back  to  me  :  "Say, 
hold  your  horses,  Chaplain ;  it  may  be  you  can  be  a  doorkeeper  in 
some  armoury."  I  answered  and  said:  "Very  well:  I  would 
rather  be  a  doorkeeper  in  the  house  of  patriots  than  to  dwell 
among  the  tents  of  the  pacifists." 

I  have  told  you  one  reason  why  Germany  won't  succeed.  Re- 
member about  the  tree,  but  don't  forget  what  the  other  gentlemen 
have  said.  I  shall  never  again  believe  in  that  tradition  that  a  sol- 
dier is  no  orator.  Such  oratory!  I  don't  wonder  that  they 
brought  you  back  from  abroad,  and  I  don't  wonder  that  you  re- 
fused to  introduce  that  German  soldier  to  your  lady  companions. 


158       ONE  HUNDRED  PER  CEN  r   AMERICAN 

.  ■  [  guess  i 

s,     does  s  knows  v  ho  3  ou 

.   i 
g 
is    I 
s 

-  c 
e  been  in 

ter  is  ev<  . .  they  d 

leir  minis..   -  the  exchequers 

on  all 

sermon  has        A 

is  wh;    those  ministers  ig  in  the  Is 

to,     E 

le  gosp*  ng  that  is 

ie  s 

ind  idealism,  a  eluded  :  ght  can  make  right. 

ig  as  there  is  that  has 

theirs  Nietzsche, 

schkt  most  gc  do\*  n  urth  from 

s    ig  " 
And   the   .      -     .   third  reason  why  Germany  can't   win.     Its 
courage  is  nothing  but  bluff  and  bluster.     Now,  I  have  been  in 

Germany.     I  have  been  among-  those  who  ed  its  mo- 

vers    k  and  thought  mat  the  Germans  ;  .     i    ex 

than  I  have  learned  they  have  been,  wonderful  inventors  in 

making  c   er    ling  is  t  n  Germany."  but  must 

.  d  everywhere  :  but  I  c  distinctly  reeall  one  time  tray- 

n  in  Germany.    There  were  four  or  five  Americans. 

es  an     gentlemen,  in  :  ig    when  there  entered  a 

Germs  r.     As  sc  ime  in  that  compartment,  they 

aiking  was  as  Lord  was  in  His  holy  temple : 

let  all  the  earth  keep  siler.  e  Him."     I  :  Iked  down 

the  Unter  der  Linden  and  have  seen  those  little  fellows  coming 

down,  clanking  their  s  ind  even  a  little  German  dog  will 

..way.     That  is  not  courage:  that  is  bluster:  that  is  bluff. 

Real  couragf  -  in  any  such  way  as 

secretly  mustering  millions  of  men  and  then  trampling  down  the 

children  of  Belgium  to  get  tc  -  '-hey  can  bombard 

another  nation.     A  really  courageous  nation  will  not  stoop  to 

such  low  scheming  practice  have  in  that  country.    A  man 

with  an  ounce  of  humanity  flowing  in  his  veins   would  never 


VARIED  ASPECTS  OF  THE  WAR  159 

attempt  to  justify  such  abominable  murders  as  were  committed 
on  the  seas  in  the  sinking  of  the  Lusitania.  r,  I  could 

tell  you  things  that  have  been  told  me  by  th  Con- 

sistent with   their   philosophy,   and   according  to   their   kir 
courage,  they  can  stretch  a  nude  mother  in  the  style  of  cruci- 
fixion and  hold  her  baby  before  her  dying  eyes,  in  order  to  scare 
a  community  into  submission.    That  is  the  fact.    As  for  the 
devils  who  do  such  deviltry,  I  suppose  we  might  at  least  offer  the 
explanation,  if  not  the  excuse: 

"Theirs  not  to  reason  why; 
Theirs  not  to  make  reply; 
Theirs  but  to  do  or  die." 

And  for  that  reason,  you  will  find  no  individual  courage,  as 
you  will  find  in  nations  that  have  an  exalted  idea  of  free 
You  will  find  no  men  scaling  walls  as  ours  did  in  China  and  going 
over  alone,  in  order  that  they  may  accomplish  something  for  their 
lofty  ideals.  There  is  with  Germans  no  individual  initiative. 
They  will  fight  en  masse;  they  cannot  fight  alone.  They  haven't 
the  courage ;  and  with  all  their  talk  about  strength  and  might,  they 
have  not  those  individual  characteristics  that,  in  the  end,  will  en- 
able them  to  win.  You  can  puncture  a  German's  pomp  with  the 
point  of  a  pin. 

Men  and  brethren,  get  this  idea  fixed  in  your  hearts  and 
minds: 

Our  cause  is  just; 
In  God  we  trust; 
Conquer  we  must. 


FIFTH   DISCUSSION 

FEBRUARY    SECOND,    1918 

WHAT  HAVE  WE   AGAINST   THE    CENTRAL  EUROPE 
POLICY   OF   GERMANY? 


WHAT  HAVE  WE  AGAINST  THE  CENTRAL  EUROPE 
POLICY  OF  GERMANY? 


ONE:    BY  PROFESSOR  ALBERT  BUSHNELL  HART 

Harvard  University 

I  trusi  that  I  shall  be  successful  in  living  down  the  two  han- 
dicaps  which  have  been  placed  about  my  innocent  neck  by  the 
toastmaster.  In  the  firsl  place,  that  I  should  be  here  to  adum- 
brate so  famous  a  speaker,  so  renowned  a  publicist  as  Mr.  B 

And  the  only  remedy  that  I  see  for  that.  stat<  of  things  is  the 
suggested  one  ;  that  you  may  have  the  substitute  to-day  and  the 
true  thing  at  a  later  meeting!  Again,,  the  chairman  has  made 
things  delightfully  easy  for  me  by  his  plain,  matter-of-fact  intro- 
duction. It  is  on  record  that  the  great  Daniel  Webster,  on  an 
occasion  in  Congress,  when  a  fellow  member  saw  fit  to  say  things, 
less,  apparently,  than  your  toastmaster  has  said,  replied  with  a 
classic  phrase  drawn  from  his  own  youthful  experience  in  New 
Kngland.     He  simply  turned  and  said,  "Git  out!" 

It  seems  fitting  enough  that  I  should  be  before  the  Republican 
Club  of  New  York  to-day,  inasmuch  as  I  have  been  informed  on 
most  credible  authority  that  at  the  age  of  two  J  participated  in 
the  campaign  of  1856,  giving  all  my  influence  in  behalf  of  the 
Republican  candidates  of  that  day!  Xor  did  my  Republican  ex- 
perience end  there;  for  one  of  your  members  has  graciously 
remembered  that  we  were  both  members  of  that  famous  Repub- 
lican Convention  at  Chicago  in  J 9 12,  the  most  prolific  of  all  con- 
ventions, since  its  result  was  twin  candidates ! 

I  am  going  to  speak  to-day  of  a  subject  which  is  to  my 
mind,  the  most  significant  and  important  before  the  Ameri- 
can people;  the  more  significant  because  we  are  only  waking  up 
to  what  it  means.  Here  we  are,  in  the  midst  of  a  prodigious  war, 
the  greatest  in  the  history  of  mankind,  making  such  efforts  as  this 
country  has  never  made,  and,  please  God,  we  never  shall  need 
to  make  after  the  war  is  over;  and  yet  everything  goes  easily, 
we  have  had  an  excellent  luncheon,  and  it  appears  that  the  scar- 
city of  coal  does  not  extend  to  the  Republican  Club.  It  is  amaz- 
ing how  easily  and  quietly  we  go  about.  We  are  just  learning 
for  the  first  time  the  difficulty  as  to  fuel,  and  a  smaller  difficulty 

163 


164       ONE  HUNDRED  PER  CENT  AMERICAN 

at  present  as  to  food  are  really  the  first  suggestions  to  most  of 
us,  that  we  are  not  in  normal  times.  We  belong  to  a  com- 
fortable, well  fed  nation,  in  which  we  expect  ease  and  we  are  fed 
from  day  to  day.  We  have  the  most  tremendous  advantage  over 
all  the  other  contestants  in  this,  that  we  do  produce  our  own  food ; 
we  feed  ourselves ;  we  have  supplies  for  our  allies  and  friends. 

We  are  in  the  war,  however,  and  we  are  just  beginning  to 
bring  together  the  reasons  why  the  United  States  of  America,  so 
many  thousands  of  miles  from  the  seat  of  hostilities,  apparently 
so  far  removed  from  those  international  discussions  and  rival- 
ries, dissensions  and  greed,  which  are  at  the  basis  of  the  pres- 
ent war,  we  are  only  just  finding  out,  ourselves,  why  it  is  that 
the  United  States  of  America  must  forsake  the  position  which  it 
has  occupied  for  so  many  years  as  the  greatest  peace  nation  on 
earth,  as  the  one  great  power  which  has  been  able  to  maintain 
itself  with  the  smallest  expenditure  for  military  and  naval  de- 
fenses, in  proportion  to  its  population. 

Those  reasons  I  am  going  to  summarize  briefly,  because  they 
all  touch,  eventually,  on  the  theme  of  the  address  that  I  am  going 
to  try  to  make  to  you  to-day.  We  have  gone  into  this  great  world 
war,  first,  for  the  defense  of  the  rights  of  neutrals;  for  that  is 
the  first  thing  that  came  to  our  attention,  and  the  Lusitania  is 
the  key  word.  Again,  we  are  fighting  for  the  defense  of  the  rights 
of  nationalities,  the  right  of  the  gathering  and  assembling  of  a 
body  of  people  who  are  ready  to  live  together  as  a  nation,  to  live 
so  without  asking  for  permission  of  somebody  else.  Eventually, 
we  are  fighting  for  the  defense  of  our  own  territories,  a  point 
to  which  I  will  recur;  beyond  that  for  the  defense  of  democracy, 
our  own  and  the  democracy  of  the  world.  And,  finally,  the  main 
object  of  war, — of  this  war  as  of  every  war, — is  not  to  fight, 
but  through  fighting,  finally  to  reach  a  state  of  peace  and  quiet. 

We  are  fighting  to  bring  about  peace,  a  peace,  however,  that 
shall  be  peaceful,  a  peace  that  will  stay  when  it  is  made. 

Now,  none  of  these  objects,  with  one  or  two  exceptions,  seem 
very  closely  connected  with  the  principles  and  conditions  of  Cen- 
tral Europe.  Our  allies  lie  on  the  western  fringe,  Great  Britain, 
France  and  Italy.  Our  traditions  are  permanently  against  taking 
an  interest  in  the  affairs  of  Central  Europe.  It  is  true  that  in 
1849  Dudley  Mann  was  sent  by  the  United  States  Government 
to  Hungary  with  a  commission  authorizing  him  to  recognize  the 
Republic  of  Hungary  if,  in  his  judgment,  it  was  a  permanent 
and  stable  government.  In  his  judgment,  it  had  not  reached,  and 
never  did  reach,  that  state.  That  instruction,  therefore,  could 
not  be  carried  out. 

We  have  nothing  to  say  about  the  Polish  Question.     There 


GERMANY'S  CENTRAL  EUROPE  POLICY      165 

was  an  insurrection  in  Poland  in  1893.  The  United  States  was 
silent.  The  only  form  in  which  the  United  States  has  taken  any 
share  in  the  internal  diplomacy  of  Central  Europe,  or  in  their  in- 
ternational relations,  from  the  beginning,  has  been  when  we 
have  undertaken  to  secure  the  rights  of  Jews  in  Roumania  and 
in  Russia.  Our  State  Department  has  departed  from  the  usual 
principle  by  setting  forth  that  American  citizens  and  persons  not 
citizens  at  all  ought  to  be  treated  with  humanity. 

Nevertheless,  contrary  to  all  our  propositions  and  our  former 
traditions,  through  the  formal  action  of  the  Federal  Government, 
we  are  now  distinctly,  clearly,  strongly,  deeply,  and  permanently 
interested  in  what  goes  on  in  Mid-Europe.  Way  beyond  the 
Italian  front  and  the  western  front,  there  is  now  going  on  in 
that  part  of  the  world  a  process  in  which  you,  you,  you,  your 
children  and  your  grandchildren  are  interested,  which,  if  we  are 
not  able  to  adjust  or  to  aid  to  adjust,  will,  to  remote  generations, 
bring  upon  our  part  of  the  human  race,  our  bit  of  it,  evils  which 
are  Jiard  to  conceive  in  advance. 

In  order  to  make  that  clear,  I  shall  say  a  few  words  then  of 
what  the  actual  conditions  are  now  in  Mid-Europe.  What  were 
they  in  1914?  Well,  there  was  a  group  of  powers,  Germany, 
Austria-Hungary,  half  a  dozen  Balkan  States,  a  small  part  of 
Turkey  in  Europe,  Russia — I  leave  out  of  the  accounting  the 
Scandinavian  powers,  those  that  were  on  the  fringe,  Switzerland. 
Their  policies  had  been  defined  for  nearly  a  century.  There  had 
been  certain  consolidations,  but  very  little  transfer  of  territory, 
except  in  the  Balkan  region.  That,  of  course,  was  in  1914. 
To-day,  three  and  a  half  years  after  the  breaking  out  of  the  war, 
you  have  got  a  different  Europe,  and  the  war  may  result,  con- 
ceivably, in  a  redistribution  of  boundaries. 

You  have  now  a  nation  of  such  power,  might,  majesty  and 
of  such  ambition  as  the  world  has  never  known,  not  for  two  thou- 
sand years.  The  empire  guided  from  Berlin,  including  the  Ger- 
man Empire,  the  Empire  of  Austria-Hungary,  the  Kingdom  of 
Bulgaria,  the  Sultanate  of  Turkey — that  empire  is  at  this  moment 
an  accomplished  fact.  There  is  only  one  government;  it  is  a 
great  consolidated  power.  There  are,  of  course,  local  authori- 
ties ;  there  are  in  Turkey,  Bulgaria  and  Austria-Hungary  assump- 
tions of  being  independent.  They  are  no  more  independent  than 
the  county  of  New  York  is  independent  of  the  State  of  New 
York,  or  of  the  Union.  Turkey  is  no  more  independent,  in  any 
proper  sense,  than  the  State  of  California  is  of  the  United  States. 
Austria  is  no  more  independent  than  the  Central  Western  States 
of  the  United  States.  Nominally,  she  considers  it  a  temporary 
matter,  simply  an  exigency  of  war. 


166       ONE  HUNDRED  PER  CENT  AMERICAN 

Germany  happens  to  be  the  most  powerful  state,  and  in  a 
military  sense,  a  great  organizer.  Where  the  German  troops  come, 
there  is  victory  expected.  When  the  Austrians  gave  way  in  Ga- 
licia  the  Germans  pulled  them  out.  When  the  Austrians  gave  way 
in  the  west,  in  the  neighborhood  of  the  Adriatic,  it  was  Germany 
that  came  to  the  rescue.  When  the  Austrians  were  three  times 
defeated  by  little  Serbia,  one  against  ten  and  yet  three  times 
victorious,  it  took  the  force  of  the  German  Empire  to  subdue  that 
proud  and  splendid  little  people,  the  Serbians.  But  for  the  Ger- 
man aid,  organization,  officers  and  ships,  the  Allies  would  be  in 
Constantinople  to-day.  Germany  saved  the  Turks  from  the  ex- 
tinction of  their  empire,  which  was  certain  except  for  the  in- 
fluence of  Germany. 

But  Germany  has  not  performed  these  services  out  of  friend- 
ship or  without  hope  of  reward.  The  expectation  of  Germany 
is  that  those  three  so-called  independent  States  shall  together, 
with  one  little  break,  make  a  complete  unit,  extending  from  the 
North  Sea  across  to  the  Persian  Gulf.  Unless  we,  the  United 
States  of  America,  prevent  it,  the  Germans  will  accomplish  the 
task  of  making  that  tremendous,  that  powerful,  that  rich,  that 
populous,  that  amazing  empire.  Why,  Alexander  the  Great  would 
turn  over  in  his  grave  at  that  plan.  He  wept  because  there  were 
no  more  worlds  to  conquer.  The  Germans  have  found  another, 
the  world  of  Central  Europe,  of  which  he  knew  nothing. 

The  power  at  which  the  Germans  now  aim  in  that  Central 
Europe  combination  is  unexampled  since  the  Fall  of  the  Roman 
Empire,  which  empire  comprised  a  little  different  grouping  of 
territories,  but  almost  as  many — perhaps  quite  as  many — square 
miles.  There  is  a  difference  also,  in  the  fact  that  the  Roman 
Empire  fell  because  she  could  no  longer  defend  her  frontiers; 
and  the  Germans  make  a  German  frontier  wherever  they  go,  by 
building  their  railroads  and  transporting  their  troops. 

That  whole  plan  of  Mid-Europe  is  a  plan  which  we  now  know 
very  considerably  antedates  the  war.  The  proofs  are  accumu- 
lating. You  are  doubtless  familiar  with  the  numerous  collec- 
tions of  extracts  from  German  statesmen  and  writers,  upon  the 
plans  of  the  German  people,  the  German  Empire,  the  German 
Government,  plans  which  go  as  far  back,  certainly,  as  1893,  when 
a  commission  of  German  officers  in  active  service  went  through 
Asia  Minor  and  Mesopotamia  and  made  elaborate  investigations 
and  reports. 

A  few  years  after  that,  irt  1898,  the  German  Emperor  went  to 
Turkey.  Eventually,  he  went  to  Damascus.  It  was  there  he 
announced  that  he  was  the  friend  of  all  Islam  all  over  the  world, 
and  practically  asked  them  to  rally  around  him.    Certainly  by  that 


GERMANY'S  CENTRAL  EUROPE  POLICY       167 

year,  1898,  it  was  in  the  minds  of  German  statesmen  that  a  new 
career  was  to  be  open  before  Germany.  To  that  career  as  planned 
many  different  terms  were  applied.  The  Germans  themselves 
have  since  formed  a  Pan-Germanic  League.  That  is  one  term, 
a  term  that  is  most  familiar ;  but  Pan-Germanism  does  not  cover 
the  whole  of  that  plan,  because  it  includes  many  non-Germanic 
elements. 

The  whole  plan  of  Germany,  the  organization  of  Central 
Europe,  of  course,  goes  back  further,  to  that  German  concep- 
tion of  the  world,  of  the  state,  of  the  individual,  particularly  of 
the  Teuton,  which  is  the  cause  of  such  fearful  woes  to  mankind. 
From  day  to  day,  the  German  newspapers,  the  German  publicists, 
the  German  colleges  have  been  setting  forth  that  German  concep- 
tion of  the  world.  Ten  years  ago,  even  twenty  years  ago,  fifty 
years  ago,  they  began  the  process  of  grinding,  grinding  into  the 
minds  of  schoolchildren,  of  secondary  students,  of  university  stu- 
dents, of  professional  men,  of  business  men,  of  military  men,  of 
all  the  conscripts  that  went  into  the  army,  grinding,  grinding  the 
bottom  principle  that  the  German  was  superior  to  all  other 
people  on  earth;  that  it  was  the  duty  of  the  German  to  extend 
his  civilization  as  far  as  he  could  reach,  and,  further,  that  it 
was  his  duty  to  extend  it  at  any  cost  of  suffering  to  any  other 
people  than  Germany. 

I  have  no  cause  to  feel  unfriendly  to  Germany  or  the  Ger- 
man people.  Thirty  years  ago  I  was  a  student ;  I  secured  a  de- 
gree which  I  fairly  earned  from  the  Universitly  of  Freiburg. 
You  can  take  Freiburg  away ;  but  you  can't  take  away  from  me 
the  consciousness  that  I  did  my  job  there,  and  that  I  was  proud 
to  have  among  my  friends  German-Americans.  There  are  no 
better  people  in  the  world  than  those  people.  We  are  warm 
friends  still,  and  the  best  of  Americans,  but  we  cannot  deny 
that  there  is  no  German-American  here  or  anywhere  else  who  is 
not  aware  that  the  spirit  of  the  present  German  Empire  is  a 
spirit  which  looks  upon  the  German  as  a  superman,  raised  above 
the  rest  of  the  human  race  by  superior  intellectual  endowments, 
by  superior  organization,  by  his  superior  sense  of  his  political 
machine,  which  not  only  makes  him  superior  to  other  people,  but 
enables  him  to  trample  on  the  rest  of  the  human  race.  The  pres- 
ence of  that  feeling  in  the  minds  of  Germans  the  present  occu- 
pancy of  Europe  proves  too  clearly.  Day  after  day  comes  the 
word  from  distressed  Belgium,  almost  the  same  from  Northern 
France — the  same  story  of  murder  and  robbery. 

One  of  my  colleagues  has  been  Professor  Depries  of  Louvain, 
Belgium.  He  is  now  going  back  to  help  prepare  to  reorganize 
his  country.    He  told  me  the  other  day  that  the  Germans  were 


168   ONE  HUNDRED  PER  CENT  AMERICAN 

blowing  to  pieces  the  blast  furnaces,  blowing  up  the  heavy  ma- 
chinery that  could  not  be  taken  home  to  Germany,  so  that  when 
the  war  was  over,  the  Belgians  would  have  nothing.  And  a  great 
bronze  dragon  which  for  about  five  centuries  has  adorned  a  spire 
in  the  city  of  Ghent,  the  conquerors  of  that  place,  the  Germans, 
have  taken  down  and  melted  it  as  old  metal.  Evidently,  they 
expect  to  leave  Belgium  and  they  intend  to  leave  it  so  that  it  will 
take  the  Belgians  a  generation  to  reestablish  themselves  as  they 
were  when  this  war  broke  out. 

Again,  in  Serbia  and  Montenegro — poor  Serbia!  It  is  but  a 
few  months  ago  that  I  was  in  that  country,  in  fact,  in  all  the 
Balkan  countries,  and  never  have  I  more  enjoyed  associations 
than  I  did  with  the  cultivated  Serbians  whom  I  met  at  Belgrade. 
They  are  a  fine  race,  a  musical  race,  a  democratic  people,  a  race 
of  plain  farmers,  with  few  wealthy  men  among  them,  a  race 
capable  of  large  progress,  a  race  reaching  out,  as  was  its  God- 
given  right,  to  associate  themselves  with  others  of  the  same 
nationality,  to  form  a  larger  nation.  Serbia  has  been  murdered. 
Not  less  than  one  million  people,  perhaps  two  million,  of  those 
people  have  given  their  lives  in  order  to  demonstrate  to  the  satis- 
faction of  the  Germans  that  they  were  the  superior  power,  and 
that  any  one  who  stood  in  their  way  should  be  ground  into  dust. 
If  you  want  a  proof  that  the  Germans  are  obsessed,  beset,  insane 
with  the  feeling  of  their  superiority  to  any  other  race  of  men, 
and  their  right  to  trample  on  the  prostrate  bodies  of  other  na- 
tions, then  go  to  Armenia;  for  it  is  the  literal  God's  truth  that 
if  the  German  Ambassador  in  Constantinople  or  his  German 
General  in  command  of  the  troops  of  the  German  Emperor  sit- 
ting in  Berlin  had  interposed  his  will,  those  massacres  would 
have  been  stopped  in  twelve  hours  and  have  saved  the  lives  of 
two  million  people. 

The  principle  of  the  Germans  is,  "If  the  rock  fall  on  the 
pitcher,  the  pitcher  shall  be  broken ;  and  if  the  pitcher  fall  on 
the  rock,  the  pitcher  shall  be  broken."  Well,  what  does  that 
mean  to  us?  If  Germany  orders  it,  we  can't  help  it;  we  can't 
put  an  army  into  Serbia  or  Armenia:  we  are  not  in  a  position 
to  save  those  people.  We  do  deeply  sympathize  with  them,  and 
express  our  sympathy  by  the  sending  of  that  magnificent  list  of 
physicians  to  stamp  out  the  typhus  in  Serbia,  by  feeding  the 
Belgians,  by  a  thousand  acts  of  interest  and  sympathy  with  all 
the  distressed  people.  We  do  deeply  sympathize  with  those 
people,  but  we  are  not  able  to  reach  them.  Why  should  we 
concern  ourselves?  We  are  going  in  on  the  western  front.  We 
are  going  to  help  protect  ourselves;  don't  let  us  forget  that. 
Undoubtedly,  there  is  a  great  altruistic  influence  in  the  minds 


GERMANY'S  CENTRAL  EUROPE  POLICY       169 

of  the  American  people;  but,  at  the  same  time,  the  best  coast 
defence  of  the  United  States  to-day  is  the  western  line  between 
the  Germans,  and  the  French  and  British.  That  is  holding  off 
the  warships  of  Germany  indefinitely. 

But  why  are  we  to  be  so  concerned  with  the  conditions  in 
Central  Europe?  Because  the  condition  of  Central  Europe  is  at 
present  the  proof  that  the  Germans  aim  at  nothing  short  of  world 
sovereignty;  that  they  have  in  their  minds  the  Romans,  and  that 
they  hope  and  expect  to  create  a  power  which  within  a  generation 
or  two  shall  dominate  the  world,  so  that  no  state  in  the  world 
can  be  independent  except  by  their  consent ;  that  wherever  Ger- 
mans go  there  are  going  to  follow  them  their  men  to  protect  them 
and  protect  their  power. 

The  consciousness  of  this  state  of  affairs,  of  this  tremendous 
danger  to  mankind,  has,  I  own,  been  slow  in  coming  to  me,  and 
I  own  that,  for  a  good  two  years,  I  had  it  in  mind  that  the  end 
of  the  war  was  going  to  be  about  the  status  quo.  It  is  perfectly 
clear  that  Germany  is  excessively  anxious  for  peace,  because 
her  people  are  rising  in  great  numbers  to  demand  bread.  The 
voice  of  the  German  people  is,  "If  you  can't  give  us  bread,  then 
give  us  peace."  The  Germans  are  exceedingly  anxious  to  re- 
turn to  the  status  quo;  the  whole  attitude  of  Germany  is  a  desire 
to  return  to  status  quo.  They  will  return  to  the  status  quo;  but 
take  the  four  powers  which  have  been  gathered  together  in  this 
conspiracy ; — it  is  an  international  conspiracy — those  are  the  ends 
that  are  behind  it,  and  the  purposes  that  control  the  Germans' 
willingness  to  return  to  the  status  quo. 

Undoubtedly,  they  would  leave  Belgium  and  Northern  France. 
Leave  what  ?  The  bare  shell,  a  few  walls  sticking  up.  Forty-six 
thousand  houses  have  been  destroyed  in  Belgium — destroyed 
absolutely,  blown  up,  burned — and  as  many  more  looted  and  left 
desolate.  The  peasantry  throughout  the  country  apparently  have 
all  been  looted  and  all  been  destroyed.  That  is  what  it  means  to 
return  to  the  status  quo. 

But  we  want  peace;  we  want  a  peace  that  will  relieve  the 
world  from  this  frightful  sacrifice  of  life.  We  want  a  peace 
that  will  bring  our  own  sons  back  from  the  .lenches,  nobody 
more  than  I.  There  are  a  great  many  fathers  here;  I  am  one 
of  them.  My  two  sons  are  over  here  at  Astoria,  in  Uncle 
Sam's  army,  enlisted  for  the  emergency,  and  their  parents  will 
see  them  through.  Well,  a  hundred  men  here  can  say  the^  same 
thing.  There  is  no  distinction  in  that;  the  only  distinction  is 
that  I  am  expected  as  a  man  who  has  a  stake  in  the  war — my 
own  children — to  feel  that  there  is  a  bigger  stake  than  my  sons, 
and  that  is  the  life  of  my  country.    And  I  sincerely  believe  that 


170       ONE  HUNDRED  PER  CENT  AMERICAN 

the  consummation  of  the  German  program  in  Central  Europe,  if 
it  is  carried  out,  will  mean  the  eventual  death  of  popular  govern- 
ment in  the  United  States  of  America;  that  it  will  mean  in  the 
end  either  a  self-consuming  or  an  invasion  of  the  United  States, 
that  it  is  time  for  us  now  to  take  measures. 

The  German  people  may  say  it  is  very  convenient  for  them 
to  have  a  German  Emperor.  Everybody  knows,  however,  that 
the  German  Emperor  is  perhaps  less  responsible  than  many  other 
individuals  in  Germany,  and  although  we  have  great  authority 
to  the  contrary,  I  have  never  been  able  to  believe  that  you  can 
separate  the  German  Government  from  the  German  people.  If 
you  were  a  German  in  Germany,  you  would  say,  "Oh  well,  with 
all  its  deficiencies,  the  Imperial  Government  has  kept  the  invader 
out  except  for  the  little  invasion  of  the  Russians  in  the  first  weeks 
of  the  war.  Our  blood  has  not  been  spilt  on  our  own  soil. 
Furthermore,  the  Imperial  Government  has  protected  Germany 
from  the  fate  of  invasion  which  it  has  been  suffering  from  for 
centuries."  Germany  has  never  been  safe  from  the  invader. 
In  the  Napoleonic  times  the  country  was  covered  with  French 
garrisons.     It  has  at  least  given  them  nationality  and  power. 

And,  more  than  that,  accumulated  evidence  shows  that  the 
leaders  of  German  thought,  the  ministers,  the  professional  men, 
the  publicists,  as  well  as  the  military  men  and  the  business  men, 
have  all  united  in  this  detestable  theory  of  the  supremacy  of  the 
Germans  over  all  others.  And  as  for  the  Emperor!  Well,  we 
might  apply  to  him  the  gibe  of  the  Englishman.  "Who  rules 
England?  The  King.  Who  rules  the  King?  The  Duke  of 
Buckingham.  Who  rules  the  Duke  of  Buckingham?  The  Devil. 
Let  the  Duke  look  to  it." 

Now  let  me  describe  a  little  more  clearly  what  the  actual 
conditions  are,  and  this  map  which  M.  Savic  has  given  us  will, 
illustrate  some  points  about  which  I  wish  to  speak. 

What  is  this  combination  of  four  Powers?  Well,  Germany 
has  sixty-eight  million  population ;  Austria  fifty-one  million ;  Bul- 
garia about  eight  million  or  nine  million;  Turkey  had  about 
twenty  million  at  the  beginning  of  the  war.  Turkey's  population 
is  much  depleted,  and  depleted  how  ?  By  knocking  out  the  brains 
of  the  best  people  in  Turkey.  They  are  the  best  people  in  the  em- 
pire, and  that  is  why  they  have  been  assassinated,  to  make  room 
for  Turks  or  Germans,  who  knows?  at  any  rate,  for  some  other 
immigrants  they  are  cleared  out  of  the  way.  You  have  those  four 
Powers,  extending  eastward  to  Arabia  and  down  the  Mesopota- 
mian  Valley  to  the  Gulf  of  Persia,  and  south  to  the  Mediterranean 
and  the  Black  Sea  on  the  north,  and  it  even  has  a  little  territory 
outside  the  walls  of  Constantinople.     Now,  those  four  Powers, 


GERMANY'S  CENTRAL  EUROPE  POLICY       171 

with  perhaps  one  hundred  and  thirty  million  people,  are  now 
closely  united.  Why,  take  the  military  commands  of  the  Presi- 
dent of  the  United  States,  which  every  soldier  and  every  civilian 
obeys  as  the  lawfully  constituted  authority  in  time  of  war,  within 
the  limits  to  which  he  applies  it ;  the  will  of  the  General  Staff  in 
Berlin  is  just  as  effective  from  end  to  end  of  that  domain  as  the 
will  of  the  British  Government  over  its  population  or  the  will  of 
the  French  over  theirs. 

There  is  no  longer  an  Austria-Hungarian  Empire,  and  I  don't 
mean  to  say  that  in  the  course  of  time  there  won't  be  a  so-called 
Austrian-Hungarian  Empire  restored,  with  boundaries  perhaps 
somewhat  enlarged.  I  don't  mean  to  say  that  Bulgaria  and 
Turkey  will  not,  if  the  Germans  have  their  way,  continue  as 
nominally  independent  countries;  but  I  do  mean  to  say  that 
there  is  no  independence  during  war,  and  that  it  is  not  the  pur- 
pose of  the  Germans  that  there  shall  be  independence  in  time  of 
peace.  The  German  policy  of  extending  its  power  may  be  sum- 
med up  in  two  or  three  phrases.  One  of  them  is  "Pan-German- 
ism." That  does  not  cover  in  the  least  the  present  ambitions  of 
Germany.  Pan-Germanism,  if  it  were  carried  out,  would  add 
to  the  Germans  perhaps  Holland,  part  of  Belgium,  on  the  ground 
that  they  are  a  Germanic  people,  the  Germanic  part  of  Switzer- 
land, the  nine  or  ten  millions  of  Germans  in  Austria,  and  that 
is  about  all.  That  is  to  say,  you  could  enlarge  by  perhaps 
twenty  or  twenty-five  millions,  making  a  German  population  of 
ninety  to  one  hundred  millions  in  Central  Europe,  in  which  all 
the  people  would  speak  German  in  the  course  of  time.  A  good 
many  of  them  could  be  taught  to  think  German! 

But  that  is  not  what  is  meant  by  Pan-Germanism,  and  we 
know  by  the  indisputable  testimony,  both  of  public  and  private 
writings,  when,  for  instance,  the  Emperor  of  Germany  a  few 
years  ago  announced  that  he  was  going  to  make  it  his  duty — I 
quote  him  here — "It  is  my  wish  that,  standing  in  closer  union, 
you  help  me  do  my  duty,  not  only  to  my  own  countrymen,  but 
to  the  many  thousands  in  foreign  lands."  That  is,  "I  must  protect 
them."  That  was  in  1897.  Just  what  did  he  mean?  He  meant, 
I  suppose,  Germans  in  English-speaking  countries  that  were  not 
able  to  resist  the  economic  pressure  of  German  visitors  and  Ger- 
man traders ;  but  it  apparently  means  more  than  that. 

In  19 1 3  the  German  Government  passed  a  new  act  with 
reference  to  citizenship.  In  many  ways  the  principle  is  the  same 
as  that  of  an  earlier  act,  but  it  is  a  great  deal  more  explicit. 
A  German  who  becomes  naturalized  in  a  foreign  country,  under 
the  previous  acts  if  he  came  back  to  Germany,  severed  his  rela- 
tions.   If  he  went  back  and  severed  his  relations  to  us,  of  course 


172       ONE  HUNDRED  PER  CENT  AMERICAN 

his  German  citizenship  might  be  resumed.  Now  comes  the  ex- 
pansion. In  this  new  act  there  is  a  provision  that  while  a  citizen 
of  a  foreign  country  the  German  may  remain  inscribed  as  a 
citizen  of  his  own  country,  if  the  consul  in  his  neighborhood  will 
endorse  him. 

That  is,  that  act  was  conceived  to  create  that  perfectly  intol- 
erable situation  wherever  Germans  went  and  settled,  by  which 
if  a  man  swore  that  he  gave  up  his  allegiance  to  any  foreign 
potentate  and  power,  still,  in  his  own  mind,  he  was  a  citizen  of 
Germany  and  was  entitled  to  the  benefits  of  German  citizenship. 
Furthermore,  it  does  not  appear  that  certain  extravagant  German 
writers  have  been  seized  and  sent  to  the  trenches  because  they 
said  that  the  Germans  in  Brazil  and  elsewhere  in  South  America 
must  be  followed  and  protected  by  the  Home  Government. 

I  don't  like  to  think  that  the  Germans  are  so  far  superior 
to  the  rest  of  mankind  that  they  can  make  unfailing  plans  years 
in  advance,  and  see  them  come  out  precisely  as  they  desired.  I 
am  not  willing  to  credit  the  Germans  with  superhuman  sagacity, 
in  view  of  the  fact  that  when  the  war  broke  out, — with  their 
vast  system  of  intelligence,  spies  penetrating  every  country,  this 
country,  the  City  of  New  York,  the  ward  and  this  street  in  which 
this  building  is  situated, — I  am  not  willing  to  believe  that  they 
are,  after  all,  superhuman,  when,  in  the  face  of  all  that,  the  Ger- 
mans went  to  war  totally  misconceiving  the  frame  of  mind  of 
the  Belgians,  the  British,  the  Irish,  the  Canadians,  the  Australians, 
the  South  Africans  and  the  people  of  the  United  States  of  Amer- 
ica. Having  made  every  miss  out  of  a  possible  total  of  ten,  I  am 
not  willing  to  admit  that  they  are  wise  out  of  all  the  people  on  the 
earth ! 

Nevertheless,  they  have  been  a  great  deal  wiser  than  we  have 
in  trade  matters.  A  part  of  this  whole  pressure  of  Pan-Ger- 
manism is  to  plant  Germans  where  they  will  do  the  most  good. 
You  meet  people  who  have  been  to  South  America.  You  say 
to  them,  you  having  been  away  from  that  country  seven  or  eight 
years,  "How  is  the  Bank  of  Venezuela  getting  along?"  And 
they  will  tell  you  the  Germans  bought  it.  Or,  how  about  the 
traction  line  of  Buenos  Aires?  It  got  into  German  hands.  The 
Germans  have  been  planting  all  over  the  world  wherever  they 
could;  they  have  been  planting  machines,  partly  trade,  partly 
political,  partly  getting  ready  for  the  time  when  they  could  be 
made  available. 

And  Germany  never  forgets  that  one  of  the  main  objects  of 
this  war  is  to  wrest  out  of  the  hand  of  Great  Britain  those 
magnificent  fortified  posts,  islands,  fortresses — Gibraltar,  Malta, 
Aden  and  Colombia  and  Hong  Kong — all  about  the  world,  those 


GERMANY'S  CENTRAL  EUROPE  POLICY        173 

places  where  English  ships  can  recoal  and  refit.  Those  are  the 
places  that  have  made  possible  the  driving  of  German  commerce 
and  German  commerce-destroyers  from  the  seas.  The  Germans 
would  like  to  have  some  of  those,  and  there  is  no  doubt  that  they 
were  making  preparations  to  have  the  right  people  in  the  right 
places  to  exercise  the  right  influence,  when  the  time  came. 

In  the  first  place,  the  Germans  are  perfectly  willing  to  in- 
clude within  Pan-Germany  a  considerable  number  of  race  ele- 
ments that  are  not  German  at  all.  For  instance,  in  Posen,  the 
German-Polish  Province:  are  you  aware  that  a  little  way  north 
is  Prussia,  Prussia  par  excellence?  And  yet  in  Posen  there  are 
two  hundred  thousand  people  who  can't  speak  any  German, 
grown  people  ?  They  are  Slavs ;  they  have  been  there  for  ages ; 
and  they  haven't  yet  succeeded  in  making  that  population  swallow 
the  German  language ;  but  they  are  included  in  Pan-Germany. 

The  Danes  are  included  in  Pan-Germany ;  and,  what  is  more, 
this  conception  of  the  status  quo  has  been  somewhat  broadened, 
because  the  Germans  now  hold  the  whole  of  Poland  and  Lith- 
uania, and  those  Slavic  people  are  to  be  incorporated  in  Pan- 
Germany. 

Furthermore,  Pan-Germany  could  not  be  made  to  include 
only  the  German-speaking  parts  of  Austria.  People  thought  it 
would  be  very  easy  to  transfer  those  ten  million  people.  Do  you 
realize  that  that  would  transfer  that  Catholic  population  over 
into  a  Protestant  one.  The  bringing  in  of  those  people  would 
just  change  the  religious  balance  in  the  Empire,  and  as  that 
division  has  frequently  been  reflected  in  the  representation  in 
the  Reichstag,  No.  The  Germans  propose  to  include  in  Pan- 
Germany  the  nationalities  enclosed  in  Austria. 

That  is  a  thing  that  comes  very  close  home  to  us.  What  have 
we  got  to  do  with  the  subdivisions  of  Austria?  The  President 
has  said  we  have  nothing  to  fear,  provided  a  reasonable  adjust- 
ment is  made.  What  is  Austria?  It  has  about  twelve  million 
Germans,  ten  million  Magyars.  That  is  twenty-two  million.  And 
the  rest  of  the  population,  twenty-nine  million,  is  non-Germanic. 
The  citizens  of  Hungary  are  a  very  gifted  race  of  most  interesting 
individuals,  and  yet  they  have  accepted  an  artificial  attachment  to 
the  German  whom  for  centuries  they  hated  and  despised,  and 
whom  they  were  fighting  with  all  their  might  as  late  as  1849. 

What  about  the  Slavs?  We  have  been  told  so  much  about 
the  Slavs.  The  Germans  had  a  great  deal  to  say  about  the  "wave 
of  Slav  barbarism  sweeping  over  Europe."  The  Slavs  are  just 
as  good  Europeans  as  the  Germans.  They  have  been  there  just 
as  long  as  the  Germans.  They  are  a  people  in  many  ways  gifted. 
They  are  as  capable  of  self-government  as  any  other  European 


174   ONE  HUNDRED  PER  CENT  AMERICAN 

people.  There  could  not  be  a  greater  mistake  than  to  put  the 
Slavs  down  as  a  people  of  inferior  mentality.  They  have  been 
crushed  to  the  earth  for  hundreds  of  years. 

Take  the  Serbians  whom  I  saw  in  191 3.  They  were  just 
emerging  out  of  the  awful  pressure  of  Turkey,  just  coming  up. 
Now  they  are  struck  down  again  and  dragged  in  the  mud. 

You  have  got  to  reckon  with  the  Slavs.  Perhaps  one  hundred 
and  twenty  million  out  of  one  hundred  and  sixty  million  in  Russia 
are  Slavs. 

Have  you  ever  met  any  of  those  business  men  of  Bohemia? 
There  is  not  a  more  hard-headed  banker  in  this  assembly,  nor  a 
keener  professional  or  business  man  than  the  Bohemians  I 
found  over  there.  There  had  been  a  typhoon  that  had  destroyed 
their  sugar  factory.  People  had  been  buried  in  the  ruins.  Sit- 
ting there  in  the  hotel,  exactly  as  Americans  would  have  done, 
with  their  wives  and  children,  sitting  about  the  table,  they  were 
planning  to  rebuild  their  factory.  And  they  set  about  it  directly. 
They  can  take  their  part  if  they  have  a  fair  chance,  side  by 
side  with  the  other  races  of  Europe.  Furthermore,  you  will 
observe  that  the  Bohemians  are  essentially  Slavic.  When  the 
Bohemians  and  the  Serbians  are  on  good  terms,  they  can  under- 
stand each  other  perfectly;  but  when  they  are  not,  neither  can 
understand  the  other's  language ! 

The  Rumanians  like  to  think  they  are  Latins,  because  they 
have  some  Latin  words  in  their  language ;  but  they  are  practically 
Slavs. 

Well,  either  the  world  has  got  to  settle  down  to  the  idea  that 
the  Slavs  are  to  be  beasts  of  burden,  hewers  of  wood  and  carriers 
of  water  to  the  end  of  time,  or  you  have  got  to  admit  that  they 
have  their  rights.  On  that  point  the  President  is  very  firm.  He 
is  for  the  principle  of  nationality.  We,  as  a  nation,  stand  for 
the  principle  of  nationality.  We  don't  stand  so  hard  when  we 
come  to  our  immediate  neighbors;  but  there  are  several  little 
races  that  we  intend  taking  care  of  in  Central  Europe.  We  are 
profound  supporters  of  the  principle  of  nationality  in  small  states. 
If  you  don't  have  small  states,  what  are  you  going  to  have? 
Well,  you  are  going  to  have  one  state.  The  world  has  expected 
that  out  of  this  great  war  there  would  come  about  a  readjust- 
ment of  Austria-Hungary.  You  know  how,  for  centuries,  the 
Magyars  were  thrust  down  as  far  as  the  Germans  could  thrust 
them.  They  tried  to  prevent  the  development  of  their  leaders, 
their  language  and  their  national  feeling.  They  never  have  been 
able  to  do  it. 

Take  the  Serbians  and  their  desperate  condition.     Out  of 


GERMANY'S  CENTRAL  EUROPE  POLICY       175 

that  million  Serbs  you  will  have  a  nation  if  you  will  give  them  an 
opportunity. 

How  is  the  United  States  affected  by  this  extension  of  Mid- 
Europe  into  Asia?  Well,  there  is  no  denying  that  Turkey  is 
the  great  crime  of  Europe ;  that  a  handful  of  unorganized  Asiatics 
from  Northern  Asia,  Mongolians,  should  have  been  able  to  ride 
down  the  great  Greek  Empire,  the  Balkan  States,  Hungary, 
where  for  a  hundred  years,  they  held  dominion, — that  Europe 
should  not  have  organized  against  them.  Let  that  be  the  lesson 
for  us  at  this  time.  If  only  the  Europeans  had  girded  their  loins 
and  kept  Europe  for  Europeans !  Unless  the  rest  of  mankind 
can  organize  against  the  Germans  and  the  Turks,  you  are  going 
to  have  another  empire  with  the  principles  of  Turkey.  Do  you 
realize  that  the  Turks  have  always  been  in  a  minority  in  their  own 
country?  There  have  always  been  more  people  of  the  Christian 
races  than  of  the  Turks  themselves.  They  are  the  poorest  of 
governors — delightful  people  personally  but  poor  governors. 
Put  any  ten  Turkish  people  together  and  give  them  political  rule, 
and  they  will  treat  you  exactly  as  a  German  general  does  his  foes ; 
only  they  treat  their  friends  exactly  as  the  Germans  do  their 
enemies ! 

If  the  Germans  are  allowed  to  restore  the  nominal  status  quo, 
with  these  four  adhering  Powers,  all  independent — simply  agree- 
ing that  they  will  be  ruled  by  common  interest — if  they  are  al- 
lowed to  make  a  customs  union  by  which  they  will  give  each  other 
advantages  and  so  far  as  they  can  shut  out  the  rest  of  the 
world,  it  means  that  the  whole  of  the  rest  of  the  world  suffers. 

The  Empire  they  are  planning  will  have  a  frontage  of  the 
Baltic  Sea,  the  North  Sea,  the  White  Sea,  the  Caspian  Sea,  the 
Black  Sea,  the  iEgean  Sea,  the  Mediterranean,  the  Red  Sea, 
the  Gulf  of  Persia.  It  will  bring  them  within  striking  distance 
of  the  English  communications  through  the  Suez  Canal. 

Jerusalem,  the  center  of  the  Christian  faith,  the  scene  of  the 
life,  the  works,  and  the  walks  of  our  Lord  and  of  His  death  and 
burial,  has  been  taken  out  of  the  hands  of  those  who  reject  His 
religion;  and  if  the  Germans  win,  Palestine  will  invariably  go 
back  on  some  terms  to  Turkey.  Of  course,  the  Germans  as  a 
nation  have  a  Christian  form  of  worship  and  it  is  probable  that 
there  will  be  some  protection  for  people,  life  and  property  in 
Jerusalem ;  but  it  will  be  nominally  Turkish ;  that  is,  the  Germans 
will  perpetuate  solely  the  conditions  permitting  the  enormities 
of  the  previous  system. 

When  you  get  that  empire,  you  will  see  a  glad  hand  pre- 
sented to  India  and  Central  Asia,  because  that  is  where  the  ambi- 
tion of  the  Germans  extends.     In  the  first  place,  because  the 


176   ONE  HUNDRED  PER  CENT  AMERICAN 

German  policy  is  a  policy  of  a  world  power  of  one  great  state, 
at  least  of  a  great  European  power;  and  all  other  powers  in 
Europe  and  in  Western  Asia  will  live  by  the  sufferance  of  the 
Germans.  We  have  no  territory  there,  but  we  have  territory  in 
other  parts  of  the  world.  Can  anybody  doubt  that  if  that 
empire  is  once  established  the  next  thing  will  be  to  send  out 
creepers,  the  octopus  arms,  to  other  parts  of  the  world  or  to 
other  parts  of  South  America?  There  is  no  evidence  that  the 
German  has  ever  formed  any  definite  plans  for  invading  South 
America,  but  it  is  the  natural  outcome  of  German  power. 
Wherever  you  have  Germans,  there  you  find  a  German  Consul  to 
protect  them ;  and  wherever  you  have  a  German  Consul,  you  have 
next  a  German  warship  to  protect  the  Consul ;  and  then  a  Minister 
to  protect  the  warship ! 

In  the  second  place,  that  power  is  an  autocratic  power,  a 
sublime  and  imperial  power,  going  back,  finally,  to  one  man,  the 
German  Emperor.  No,  to  a  self-constituted  group  of  autocrats 
in  Germany,  military  men,  choosing  A,  B,  or  C ;  because  he  is  an 
able  man  he  shall  be  our  statesman.  If  we  don't  like  his  type  of 
statesmanship,  out  he  goes !  It  is  perfectly  idle  to  talk  of  the 
government  being  the  government  of  the  Hohenzollerns ;  it  is  a 
government  of  a  small  group  of  persons  with  the  control  of  the 
government  in  their  hands.  Even  the  Emperor  may  be  the  cork 
on  that  stream.  Those  are  the  people  who  are  going  to  settle 
it.  Of  course,  there  is  democracy  in  Germany;  but  the  primary 
ideal,  that  the  ultimate  decision  shall  be  made  by  the  intelligent 
majority,  by  the  people  themselves,  is  contrary  to  this  whole  idea; 
because  Austria,  Bulgaria,  Turkey  have  got  to  be  subject  powers, 
and  do  you  think  the  people  in  Germany  are  going  to  be  free? 

It  is  an  attack  on  that  principle  which  is  dear  to  us.  I  knew 
a  man  once  who  had  been  a  public  man  known  in  some  centers, 
who  made  a  visit  to  Germany  in  191 1,  had  been  in  Africa  and 
other  places,  came  back  greatly  interested.  "Why,"  he  said,  "I 
got  to  the  point  where  I  said,  Tf  I  am  introduced  to  another  king, 
I  shall  cry.' ':  His  point  was  this :  He  said,  "Germany  was  the 
only  country  where  I  felt  that  every  man,  woman  and  child  was 
my  enemy ;  not  personally,  I  was  treated  with  great  respect ;  but 
the  feeling  was  that  the  United  States  was  the  enemy  of  Ger- 
many." Why?  "Because,"  he  said,  "we  have  accomplished  the 
attainment  of  wealth,  power,  eminence,  by  a  road  which  the 
Germans  think  is  unsuitable,  by  democratic  government,  and  that, 
to  the  German  mind,  is  an  affront. 

Again,  there  is  the  question  of  commerce.  That  great  Central 
European  power  is  going  to  be  a  closed  economic  power.  I 
say  closed.    Their  principle  will  be  to  close  it,  so  far  as  their  ad- 


GERMANY'S  CENTRAL  EUROPE  POLICY       177 

vantages  will  go,  to  other  people,  and  to  open  it,  by  force  of 
arms  if  necessary,  where  their  trade  is  concerned.  It  is  the  most 
frightful  principle.  You  take  Germany  feeding  itself  in  the 
present  war,  and  where  would  the  rest  of  the  people  be?  Ger- 
many is  shut  out,  at  present,  from  the  sea.  Under  the  new 
regime,  Germany  will  have  ports,  thousands  of  miles  apart,  the 
whole  route  strung  together  by  the  Hamburg-to-Bagdad  Railway 
which  can  be  completed  in  a  few  months  when  the  war  is  over. 
No,  I  wish  no  ill  to  any  people  because  they  are  different 
from  ourselves;  we  wish  no  destruction  to  Germany,  per  se ;  but 
unless  we  are  ready  to  arm,  to  fight  and  to  persist,  we  shall  find 
established  on  the  other  side  of  the  world  a  government  in  which 
we  have  no  share,  and  which  will  have  a  tremendous  share  in 
settling  our  destinies. 

TWO:     BY  DR.  ROBERT  M.  McELROY 

Educational  Director,  The  National  Security  League 

We  are  not  dreaming  dreams  of  politics  to-day,  but  we  are 
thinking  of  that  narrow  line  of  Americans  in  which  all  of  us 
would  love  to  stand,  a  line  existing  not  to  save  France,  but  to 
help  France  save  civilization. 

I  never  speak  from  the  same  platform  with  Professor  Hart 
without  feeling  that  it  is  hardly  worth  while  to  attempt  to  add 
anything  to  what  he  has  said ;  his  mind  is  so  virile ;  he  covers  so 
many  phases  of  life  that  it  is  impossible  to  find  any  unoccupied 
cranny  into  which  you  can  creep  after  he  has  had  a  hearing.  I 
must  say  that  when  the  telephone  message  was  sent  to  me  about  an 
hour  ago  with  the  suggestion  that  I  attempt  to  impersonate 
James  M.  Beck,  I  felt  overcome  with  the  honor ;  but  evidently  the 
idea  was  that  it  would  take  two  university  professors  to  fill 
the  place  of  Mr.  Beck.  After  the  address  which  has  just  been 
delivered,  however,  I  venture  to  assume  that  that  was  what  might 
be  called  a  false  diagnosis.  No  one  admires  James  M.  Beck's 
wonderful  eloquence  more  than  I ;  but  I  doubt  if  any  man  in  this 
or  any  other  country  could  roam  over  so  wide  a  field  in  so  brief 
a  time,  with  more  certain  knowledge  than  the  eloquent  and  bril- 
liant historian  who  has  just  spoken.  I  therefore  rise  with  un- 
usual reluctance,  although  I  always  go  to  the  platform  as  a  man 
going  to  his  own  execution,  sit  down  with  the  feeling  that  perhaps 
it  would  have  been  better  so. 

A  few  years  ago,  one  of  my  little  girls  came  into  my  room 
and  I  said  to  her,  "What  are  you  going  to  do  when  you  grow 
up?"  "Well,"  she  answered,  "I  think  I  shall  be  a  professor;  I 
can  read  books.     I  would  like  to  be  a  carpenter,  but  I  am  not 


178       ONE  HUNDRED  PER  CENT  AMERICAN 

intelligent  enough."  Frankly,  I  feel  that  I  am  not  intelligent 
enough  to  add  anything  to  what  Professor  Hart  has  said,  and 
I  feel  that  I  am  not  intelligent  enough  to  face  alone  the  enormous 
responsibility  which  hovers  about  the  head  of  the  one  who  at- 
tempts to  direct  the  Educational  Campaign  of  the  National  Se- 
curity League.  That  is  a  task  which  no  man  can  accomplish. 
It  is  a  task  which  no  small  body  of  men  can  accomplish.  It 
is  a  task  which  can  be  accomplished  only  if  our  citizens,  of 
whatever  race,  or  color  or  creed,  are  willing  to  face  the  responsi- 
bility which  belongs  to-day,  and  has  belonged  for  three  long 
years,  to  every  citizen  of  this  free  republic.  Ours  can  never  be 
a  one  man  democracy — the  old  French  proverb  speaks  for  all 
democracies  when  it  says :  "There  is  some  one  wiser  than  Talley- 
rand, wiser  than  Napoleon.    It  is  the  whole  world." 

One  year  ago  I  went  to  China,  as  the  guest  of  the  Chinese 
Government,  charged  with  the  enormous  task  of  trying  to  set 
in  motion  educational  processes  which  would  in  time  interpret 
to  the  Chinese  people  the  meaning  of  the  magnificent  institu- 
tions which  we  have  inherited,  without  effort  of  our  own,  but 
which  we  can  no  longer  expect  to  keep  except  by  a  real  and 
vital  struggle.  For  we  must  realize  that  by  the  irony  of  fate, 
or  by  the  Providence  of  God,  call  it  what  you  will,  this  coun- 
try which  gave  organized,  representative  government  in  its 
most  developed  form  to  all  the  nations,  has  got  to  settle  the 
greatest  issue  that  was  ever  presented  to  the  world.  We  are  con- 
fronting to-day  the  hosts  of  reaction,  who,  since  the  first  moment 
when  Prussia  entered  into  the  history  of  Europe,  have  dreamed 
dreams  of  conquest.  You  know  the  words  of  the  Kaiser  ? — "We 
Hohenzollerns  take  our  crown  from  God  alone ;  on  me  the  spirit 
of  God  has  descended;  who  opposes  me  I  shall  crush.  .  .  .  He 
who  listens  to  the  voice  of  public  opinion  runs  a  danger  of  in- 
flicting immense  harm  on  the  State."  That  is  Caesarism  and 
Napoleonism  and  all  the  vile,  miserable  militarism  which  has 
dreamed  dreams  of  world  conquest  for  a  thousand  years,  summed 
up  in  a  single  phrase.  "From  childhood,"  he  said,  on  another  oc- 
casion, "I  have  been  under  the  influence  of  four  men,  Julius 
Caesar,  Theodoric  II,  Frederick  II,  and  Napoleon.  Each  of  these 
men  dreamed  a  dream  of  world  empire,  and  they  failed.  I  am 
dreaming  a  dream  of  German  world  empire,  and  my  mailed  fist 
shall  succeed." 

You  know  the  words  which  he  used  in  addressing  his  troops 
in  June,  191 5,  "The  triumph  of  the  greater  Germany,  which  some 
day  must  dominate  all  Europe,  is  the  single  end  for  which  we  are 
righting;"  and  if  this  descendant  of  the  Hohenzollerns — the  de- 
spicable Hohenzollerns,  really  speaks,  as  he  claims  to  speak,  as  the 


GERMANY'S  CENTRAL  EUROPE  POLICY       179 

Vicegerent  of  God  on  earth,  he  ought  to  speak  the  truth,  and 
with  clear  knowledge.  In  a  recent  conversation  with  the  Prime 
Minister  of  Japan,  Count  Okuma,  I  referred  to  the  "Divine 
right"  of  the  Kaiser,  and  one  of  those  inscrutable  looks  came  into 
his  eyes.  "We  think  here  in  Japan  that  the  God  who  crowned 
the  German  Kaiser  is  what  we  call  the  Devil,"  he  answered. 

Do  we  realize  in  this  country — I  realize  it,  facing  it  as  I 
must — what  it  means  that  we  have  from  one  end  of  this  nation 
to  the  other  hundreds  of  thousands  engaged  in  the  process  of 
propaganda?  Propaganda  means  this,  from  the  point  of  view  of 
education.  It  means  that,  when  the  great  crisis  has  come,  the 
mind  of  your  people  has  been  found  not  to  have  had  implanted 
in  it  the  ideas  which  are  necessary  to  sustain  the  duties  of  citi- 
zenship. It  means  that  your  educational  system  has  failed.  If 
your  educational  system  had  been  a  success,  you  would  not  need 
propaganda. 

I  was  six  weeks  in  Germany  at  the  beginning  of  this  war,  and 
the  only  propaganda  which  Germany  needs  to-day  is  the  propa- 
ganda in  America,  in  Russia,  in  China,  and  in  those  countries  in 
which  it  is  trying  to  get  into  the  minds  of  the  people  who  do  not 
belong  to  it  ideas  which  will  unfit  them  for  the  service  of  the 
country  to  which  they  belong.  Germany  devised  a  system  of  edu- 
cation thirty  years  ago.  She  has  solemnly  and  deliberately  put 
into  the  minds  of  every  German  exactly  the  ideas  which  were 
necessary  to  sustain  this  unconquerable  ambition  when  the  hour 
of  destiny  should  have  struck. 

It  is  an  interesting  comment  on  humor,  that  Professor  Las- 
son,  in  spite  of  these  high  rolling  phrases  to  which  the  Kaiser  is 
continually  giving  vent,  spoke  to  his  students  in  these  words.  "The 
more  successful  the  Kaiser  is,  the  more  modest  he  is."  The  com- 
fort of  that  statement  is  this ;  it  means  that  the  Kaiser  has  failed. 

But  have  we  succeeded?  Have  we  given  free  government 
the  basis  for  complete  success  ?  We  begin  to  see  that  we  have  not. 
For  a  hundred  years  we  have  been  conscious  that  free  govern- 
ment can  only  rest  on  the  basis  of  universal  education,  a  sound 
primary  education  for  all.  We  now  realize  that  we  have  never 
had  anything  approaching  universal  education  in  the  United 
States.  Instead  of  universal  education,  we  now  begin  to  realize 
that  we  have  local  option.  We  have  been  teaching  our  children 
that  we  got  rid  of  the  doctrine  of  nullification  when  the  rough 
voice  of  Andrew  Jackson  declared  one  section  of  the  country 
should  not  set  at  defiance  a  law  which  was  considered  necessary 
for  the  whole  of  this  country.  We  are  now  beginning  to  realize 
that  nullification  in  this  country  is  as  really  a  fact  to-day  as  it 
was  in  1832 ;  but  it  is  not  political  nullification.    It  is  educational 


180   ONE  HUNDRED  PER  CENT  AMERICAN 

nullification.  I  mean  this :  We  say  there  are  certain  things  which 
are  absolutely  necessary  to  the  success  not  of  any  one  State,  but 
of  the  whole  great  Federal  experiment,  on  the  success  of  which 
I  believe  depends  the  rapid  success  of  our  form  of  government 
throughout  the  world.  For  the  time  is  coming,  probably  within 
our  lifetime,  when  the  only  form  of  monarchy  left  in  the  world 
will  be  the  form  of  monarchy  where  the  monarch  is  preserved 
in  rose-water  and  served  at  pink  teas.  Every  form  of  autocracy 
is  going  to  pass;  it  is  passing  before  our  eyes.  Autocracy  has 
failed ;  but  we  must  not  fail  to  realize  that  democracy  is  on  trial, 
and  the  success  of  democracy  requires  two  steps,  and  not  one. 

You  cannot  make  democracy  safe  by  beating  Germany.  You 
may  kill  every  German  on  God's  earth ;  you  may  bury  the  whole 
German  Empire  forty  feet  under  ground ;  and  still  you  have  to 
face  the  second  step  in  your  process,  which  is  to  show  the  world 
that  free  government  can  do  everything  that  autocracy  can  do; 
that  free  government  can  be  both  honest  and  efficient.  Instead 
of  that,  to-day  we  are  resting,  satisfied,  in  a  period  of  nullifica- 
tion. Universal  education  is  necessary  to  the  success  of  our  gov- 
ernment, and  what  do  we  say?  We  say  to  New  York,  "If  you 
give  universal  education,  we  are  pleased."  We  say  to  North 
Carolina,  "If  you  do  not  give  universal  education,  you  are  at 
liberty  to  refuse  it."  That  is  nullification,  and  it  is  the  most 
insidious  form  of  nullification,  for  it  is  nullification  by  negative 
and  not  by  positive  action. 

Every  section  of  this  country  to-day  is  at  liberty,  by  the 
organization  which  we  call  our  system  of  education,  to  fail  to 
gives  to  its  citizens  the  education  which  is  necessary,  absolutely 
necessary,  not  to  the  success  of  that  State  or  community,  but  to 
the  success  of  the  whole  Federal  experiment  in  this  country. 

Do  you  realize  that  in  this  country  there  are  thirty  million 
people — and  this  is  another  phase  of  the  question — thirty  mil- 
lion people  who  were  born  in  foreign  countries,  or  whose  father 
or  mother  was  born  in  some  foreign  country  ?  Take  New  York  to- 
day. In  spite  of  the  fact  that  we  have  had  almost  no  immigration 
for  three  years,  New  York  has  500,000  people  who  cannot  read 
or  write  the  English  language.  There  are  hundreds  of  schools 
in  this  country  that  teach  the  English  language  as  an  incidental 
subject,  exactly  as  they  teach  Greek  or  Latin  or  other  dead  lan- 
guages. 

By  the  accident  of  geographical  location,  an  abnormal  propor- 
tion of  this  immigration  settles  in  the  City  of  New  York,  and  we 
know  that  the  assimilation  of  this  foreign  population  is  absolutely 
necessary,  for  if  it  is  not  assimilated,  as  Professor  Hart  remarked 
to  me,  it  is  clear  that  this  nation  is  headed  in  the  direction  of  a 


GERMANY'S  CENTRAL  EUROPE  POLICY        181 

modern  Austria-Hungary,  an  empire  which  some  one  has  said 
is  not  an  empire  but  a  mistake. 

Allow  that  process  of  non-assimilation  of  the  race  groups 
in  this  country  to  continue  for  a  few  generations,  and  you  have 
got  an  American  which  is  not  only  polyglot,  but  which  has  not  got 
into  the  minds  of  the  people  which  make  up  its  population  the 
principles  which  make  American  citizenship.  America:  What: 
does  it  mean  ?  What  is  an  American  ?  An  American  is  only  a  per- 
son who  has  caught  certain  ideals  and  visions,  who  has  certain 
definite  ideas ;  and  if  your  system  of  education  does  not  put  those 
ideas  into  the  minds  of  your  people,  how,  in  God's  name,  will  you 
ever  be  able  to  face  the  crises  in  the  future  any  more  successfully 
than  we  have  faced  them  in  the  past  ?  And  there  has  not  been  a 
great  crisis  in  the  history  of  this  country  which  we  have  not  faced 
more  by  the  grace  of  God  than  by  the  application  of  any  fore- 
thought. 

Certain  ideas  are  now  found  to  be  absolutely  essential  to  the 
safety  of  this  country  in  the  hour  of  emergency.  They  demand 
propaganda.  We  must  carry  through  this  propaganda,  no  matter 
how  much  it  costs.  We  must  get  into  the  minds  of  the  people 
of  this  country  those  ideals  which  will  enable  us  to  act  and  to 
think  as  a  nation  and  not  as  a  collection  of  polyglot  groups,  with 
different  ideals  and  aspirations;  but  if  we  do  that,  still  we  are 
face  to  face  with  the  problem,  how  are  we  going  to  avoid  in  the 
future  the  errors  of  the  past  ?  Professor  Hart  will  agree  with  me, 
that  history  is  of  little  value  merely  as  a  record  of  the  past. 
History  is  valuable  as  a  guide-book  of  the  future,  and  if  we  do  not 
profit  by  the  errors  and  mistakes  of  the  past,  the  pursuit  of  the 
historian  is  no  better  than  the  pursuit  of  the  man  who  collects 
nonsense  syllables  or  postage  stamps. 

We  have  got  to  face  the  great  reconstruction  which  is  to  follow 
the  victory  over  Germany  as  surely  as  we  are  facing  German 
bayonets  to-day.  Victory  we  must  have;  but  military  victory 
alone  cannot  make  the  world  safe  for  democracy.  Nothing  can 
make  the  world  safe  for  an  ignorant  and  an  inefficient  democracy. 
We  must  have  education.  We  must  do  away  with  the  idea  of 
nullification  in  education,  so  that  anything  which  is  necessary 
for  the  safety  of  the  republican  experiment  shall  clearly  fall 
within  the  power  of  the  Federal  government.  We  must  concen- 
trate to  the  extent  of  having  somebody  in  this  country  whose 
business  is  to  think  of  education,  not  in  terms  of  science  as  the 
universities  think,  not  in  terms  of  village  community  or  small 
districts  as  all  of  our  educational  commissions  and  all  of  our 
boards  of  education  do  to-day,  but  to  think  in  terms  of  America, 
to  think  of  the  problems  of  the  nation  and  of  the  nations ;  for  the 


182       ONE  HUNDRED  PER  CENT  AMERICAN 

age  of  international  thinking  is  already  upon  us.  We  dare  no 
longer  think  with  provincial  minds. 

President  Wilson's  most  striking  sentence  increases  in  value 
as  we  understand  that  it  is  merely  the  reformulation  of  an  idea 
which  runs  through  our  history  like  a  thread  of  gold.  'The  world 
must  be  made  safe  for  democracy,"  represents  a  culmination. 
The  American  Revolution  meant  in  essence  that  thirteen  colonies 
must  be  kept  safe  for  democracy  and  nothing  more. 

We  made  those  thirteen  colonies  safe  for  democracy ;  and  the 
oppressed  of  all  nations  since  that  time  have  rested  in  the  pleasant 
shadow  of  that  safety.  Then,  as  the  means  of  communication  be- 
came more  efficient,  the  continents  drew  together  and  we  began 
to  realize  that  to  keep  thirteen  colonies  or  forty  states  safe  for 
democracy,  you  must  keep  the  whole  continent  safe  for  democ- 
racy; and  then  James  Monroe,  in  1823,  issued  the  Monroe  Doc- 
trine, declaring  that  the  American  continents  must  be  kept  safe 
for  democracy ;  and,  by  the  mercy  of  God  and  the  efficiency  of  the 
British  fleet,  we  have  kept  these  continents  safe  for  democracy. 
And  now,  by  the  Yankee  ingenuity  which  has  made  of  the  Atlantic 
and  Pacific  Oceans  merely  convenient  highways  of  approach,  we 
have  begun  to  realize  that  two  continents  cannot  be  made  safe 
for  democracy  unless  every  foot  of  the  earth's  surface  is  kept  free 
from  the  menacing  power  of  an  ambitious  autocracy ;  and  there- 
fore we  have  undertaken  the  final  task  of  making  all  the  world 
safe  for  democracy,  which  means  also  safe  for  all  kinds  of  gov- 
ernment except  that  which  lives  by  plunder. 

We  are  fighting  to-day  the  battle  of  democracy,  democracy 
expressed  in  terms,  not  of  the  individual  man  alone,  but  of  the 
individual  nation  as  well. 


THREE:     BY  DOCTOR  SAVIC 

Of  Serbia 

This  fine  spirit  which  has  animated  this  great  country 
of  yours  has  encouraged  me,  and  after  these  hours  of 
tragedy  through  which  my  nation  has  passed,  my  spirit  has 
again  been  raised  and  I  should  like  so  much  that  I  could  bring  all 
my  nation  here  to  witness  your  nation,  to  see  this  great  world 
struggle  through,  and  to  be  convinced,  as  I  am  now,  that  you  must 
be  victorious,  and  with  your  victory  that  my  country  will  be 
saved.    I  don't  doubt  it  any  more. 

But  allow  me  only  to  draw  your  attention,  after  these  splendid 
and  these  brilliant  speeches  of  the  present  speakers,  to  some  con- 
crete facts. 


GERMANY'S  CENTRAL  EUROPE  POLICY       183 

Serbia  is  to-day  invaded  by  German  and  Austrian  and  Bul- 
garian armies.  She  is  invaded  first  because  that  nation  was  as 
determined  in  spirit  as  your  nation  to  oppose  the  spread  of  Ger- 
man autocracy  and  stood  in  the  way  of  German  world  dominance. 
But,  more  than  that,  my  nation,  and  very  unfortunately,  is  geo- 
graphically situated  in  a  most  dangerous  corner  and  a  most  in- 
teresting corner  in  the  world.  It  is  a  bridge  connecting  the  west 
with  the  east,  and  the  German  main  ambition,  as  you  know  now,  is 
directed  towards  the  east,  and  the  Serbian  nation  and  the  Serbian 
resistance  was  to  be  broken  and  the  Serbian  nation  to  be  wiped 
out,  not  to  form  any  more  an  obstacle  to  German  ambition. 

And  Serbia  fought  for  her  own  freedom  and  existence,  and 
Serbia  fought  for  the  great  principles  of  democracy  and  freedom 
that  have  been  inscribed  on  your  banners,  and  Serbia  fought  for 
the  freedom  and  unity  of  her  own  race.  It  is  a  fact  that  besides 
Serbia  and  Montenegro  which  are  inhabited  by  the  Serbs,  there 
are  oppressed  and  enslaved  in  Austro-Hungary  seven  million  of 
my  race  and  of  my  people.  Serbia  was  poor  but  was  in  process 
of  being  developed  into  a  prosperous  and  satisfied  democracy. 
Even  by  our  principles  of  self-government,  we  have  been  an  ob- 
stacle in  the  way  of  the  German  spirit  and  of  the  German  rulers. 

We  have  been  for  a  century  an  attraction  to  our  kinsmen  in 
Austria-Hungary,  which  is  nothing  else  but  a  dependency  of  Ger- 
many. Serbia  was  to  be  finished  once  for  all.  She  was  ob- 
structing her  way  to  the  sunny  shores  of  the  Mediterranean  and 
of  the  Adriatic  Sea. 

But  now  I  have  no  doubt  that  with  your  armies  and  with  the 
armies  of  all  our  allies,  we  will  be  victorious  on  the  battlefield; 
but  I  have  really  some  doubt  whether  these  splendid  principles 
for  which  you  are  committed  to  war  will  be  concretely  material- 
ized by  future  peace  in  the  world,  and  it  is  my  deep  conviction, 
as  you  could  gather  from  the  foregoing  speeches,  that  there  is  no 
lasting  peace  in  Europe  and  there  will  be  no  lasting  peace,  but 
only  a  German  peace,  in  Europe  and  in  the  world  if  you  will 
allow  after  this  war,  for  a  single  day,  Austria-Hungary  to  con- 
tinue as  she  has. 

We  have  these  facts :  If  you  will  only  look  at  the  map  that  I 
brought  with  me,  you  will  see  that  she  is  inhabited  by  parts  only 
of  different  nations.  In  Austria-Hungary  we  have  some  twelve 
millions  of  Germans,  some  eight  or  nine  millions  of  Slavs,  five 
millions  of  Poles,  four  or  five  millions  of  Rumanians,  ten  mil- 
lions of  Magyars,  and  seven  millions  of  Slavs,  Croats  and  Czechs ; 
and  by  the  Germans  and  the  Magyars  who  number  twenty  million, 
Germany  was  able  by  her  statecraft  to  attach  so  completely 
Austria-Hungary  to  her  car,  and  to  conquer  all  these  people  in 


184       ONE  HUNDRED  PER  CENT  AMERICAN 

Austria-Hungary,  thirty  million  in  number,  that  they  fight  to-day 
Germany's  battles  against  their  own  will  and  against  their  own 
interests. 

The  victory  of  Austria-Hungary  means  national  and  political 
death  to  those  people  that  are  now  put  against  their  will  in  the 
forefront  of  Germany's  battles.  You  know  that  the  Hungarians, 
Slavs,  with  many  others,  sympathize  with  the  Allies  and  tried  to 
revolt ;  but  the  military  efficiency  of  the  Central  Powers  has  been 
too  prompt  and  too  quick  for  any  attempt  at  revolution.  But 
these  people  did  not  stop  at  that.  They  have  been  sent  to  the 
Serbian  front,  to  the  Russian  front — they  have  sent  them  there, 
they  have  formed  the  army  corps  which  day  after  day  are  fight- 
ing on  your  side  for  the  same  principles  for  which  this  country 
is  fighting,  and  they  are  fighting  against  Austria-Hungary  which 
has  been  to  them  the  stepmother  Austria,  that  was  only  animated 
by  a  spirit  of  slavery,  by  abject  subjugation  and  absolute  sub- 
servience to  German  ambitions. 

And  if  we  come  to  take  literally  the  tasks  as  outlined  by  Lloyd 
George,  and  understand  them  literally,  that  they  mean  the  dismem- 
berment of  Austria-Hungary,  it  means  that  there  will  stand  in  the 
most  dangerous  corner  of  Central  Europe  the  causes  that  have 
brought  these  great  crises  in  the  world,  that  these  causes  will  be 
made  permanent,  and  we  are  looking  for  a  new  crisis  which  will 
be,  I  fear,  a  better  opportunity  for  Germany  to  realize  to-morrow 
what  she  was  unable  to  realize  to-day. 

I  ask  you  to  put  a  question  to  yourselves,  why  twelve  million 
Germans  will  remain  in  Austria-Hungary.  Is  there  any  external 
power  to  compel  those  Germans  to  live  in  Austria-Hungary?  I 
think  that  your  answer  must  be,  No,  there  is  no  external  power, 
as  there  is  an  external  power  to  compel  my  people  and  the  people 
of  Rumania  and  the  Czechs  and  the  Poles  to  live  in  that  empire 
where  they  find  no  protection  and  no  justice;  but  the  Germans, 
if  they  are  to  remain  in  Austria-Hungary,  are  to  remain  only  to  be 
able  further  to  exploit  the  resources  of  that  empire  in  the  inter- 
ests of  Germany. 

It  will  come,  this  reorganization  of  Austria-Hungary  on  a 
sham  democracy.  It  is  a  worse  thing  than  we  know  now.  It  will 
be  a  sort  of  autocracy  in  which  there  will  be  no  spirit  of  freedom 
and  no  spirit  of  sincerity.  After  this  war,  if  you  leave  all  these 
broken  nationalities  in  this  empire,  then  the  Germans  will  be  able 
to  say  to  my  people,  to  the  Rumanians,  to  all  around  them, 
"Look  how  you  have  failed  in  the  fight  in  the  company  of  these 
great  democracies  of  the  world.  You  have  been  broken;  your 
country  has  been  devastated;  you  have  lost  the  youth  of  your 
nation ;  come  to  me ;  I  am  the  leading  nation ;  recognize  me ;  I  am 


GERMANY'S  CENTRAL  EUROPE  POLICY       185 

ready  to  recognize  you,  to  obtain  the  maximum  of  the  'output,' " 
as  they  express  themselves,  "and  by  serving  me  you  will  be  spared 
and  we  shall  be,  of  course,  the  rulers  of  the  world,  and  you  have 
only  to  accept  my  mastery  and  my  leadership." 

And  if  the  nations  will  not  listen  to  that  temptation,  is  there 
any  one  in  this  fine  gathering  of  men  that  can  hold  that  on  a  new 
occasion  when  Germany  will  again  arm  her  forces  to  push  to  the 
east,  that  there  will  again  offer  in  the  world  this  great  coalition 
of  nations  against  the  Germans?  It  would  not  be  necessary  for 
Germany  to  make  a  new  war;  it  would  be  perhaps  only  enough 
for  Germany  to  send  the  ultimatum,  just  such  a  shameful  docu- 
ment as  was  sent  to  my  country  on  the  eve  of  this  war,  and  I  fear 
very  much  that  there  will  be  no  nation  that  will  have  the  destiny 
of  Serbia  before  her  eyes,  to  oppose  the  German  power.  It  would 
be  enough  for  Germany  to  bully  all  those  around  her  and  they  will 
bow  to  her,  and  the  spirit  of  slavery  and  the  spirit  of  German 
autocracy  will  be  predominant  all  over  the  world.  And  it  can  be 
only  extirpated  out  of  Europe  and  out  of  the  whole  world  if  you 
come  to  the  only  safe,  to  the  only  logical,  assertion  that  has  truth 
and  sincerity  in  it — it  is  to  dismember  Austria-Hungary.  That  is 
the  source  of  all  political  unrest  and  of  all  political  trouble  in 
Central  Europe. 

When  you  will  be  true  to  yourselves,  when  you  will  be  true 
to  the  great  ideals  of  freedom  and  of  democracy  that  are  so 
inscribed  on  your  banners,  you  will  fight  in  Germany,  you  will 
give  to  the  oppressed  nationalities  in  Austria-Hungary  com- 
plete freedom,  complete  independence,  and  then  you  will  raise 
the  finest  monument  to  your  nation.  Instead  of  a  down-trodden, 
instead  of  a  subject  empire,  there  will  arise  in  Central  Europe,  as 
at  the  stroke  of  a  magic  hand,  a  free  nation,  beginning  from  free 
Poland  that  has  fought  to  have  its  liberty,  free  Rumania,  free 
Serbia,  and  that  will  be  the  best  warrant  to  protect  your  liberty 
and  the  best  monument  for  this  bravery  and  for  this  great  deter- 
mination with  which  you  have  entered  into  this  great  war. 

And  if  the  other  nations  in  Europe  are  saved,  my  nation  is 
saved  too.  And  if  we  have  in  this  war  placed  all,  we  have  saved 
only  one  thing;  we  have  saved  only  our  banners,  our  national 
honour ;  and  I  appeal  to  you  that  you  will  create  such  conditions 
in  Europe,  especially  in  Southeastern  Europe,  that  there  will  be 
complete  justice,  not  only  to  my  nation  that  has  suffered  as  much 
and  more  than  any  other  in  this  war,  but  justice  to  all  the  other 
nations  to-day  oppressed  by  Germany.  And  I  hope  that  you  will, 
finally, — it  is  your  duty  to  do  it  and  it  is  the  best  to  accomplish  and 
protect  the  interests  of  your  nation. 


186       ONE  HUNDRED  PER  CENT  AMERICAN 


FOUR:     BY  REVEREND  J.  PERCIVAL  HUGET,  D.D. 

What  would  Lincoln  say  to  this  generation  ? 

Lincoln  would  be  entitled  to  a  hearing  by  virtue  of  the  power 
of  his  mind  and  that  singularly  clear  and  penetrating  wisdom 
and  judgment  which  enabled  him  always  to  penetrate  beneath  the 
surface  or  the  appearance  of  things,  to  the  underlying  issues  and 
values,  to  strip  away  the  artificial  and  the  non-essential,  and  to 
arrive  at  the  heart  of  every  issue  presented  to  him. 

Lincoln  would  be  entitled  to  a  hearing  also  because  of  his 
soul,  the  integrity  of  his  manhood  which  has  won  him,  more  than 
aught  else,  even  his  martyrdom,  his  place  of  supremacy  among  the 
Americans  of  the  nineteenth  century.  Lowell  is  altogether  right 
in  the  mighty  words  of  his  Commemoration  Ode,  when  he  says : 

"He  knew  to  bide  his  time, 

And  can  his  fame  abide, 

Still  patient  in  his  simple  faith  sublime, 

Till  the  wise  years  decide. 

Great  captains,  with  their  guns  and  drums, 

Disturb  our  judgment  for  the  hour, 

But  at  last  silence  comes; 

These  all  are  gone,  and,  standing  like  a  tower, 

Our  children  shall  behold  his  fame, 

The  kindly-earnest,  brave,  foreseeing  man, 

Sagacious,  patient,  dreading  praise,  not  blame, 

New  birth  of  our  new  soil,  the  first  A  merican." 

Lincoln  would  be  entitled  to  a  hearing  also  because  he  emerged 
under  circumstances  so  great,  and  so  compelling,  as  to  make  his 
thoughts  and  the  utterance  of  his  thoughts  significant  for  his  gen- 
eration, for  his  people,  for  the  world.  In  order  that  I  may  say 
in  rapid  introduction,  more  rapidly  and  more  accurately  than  I 
could  in  my  own  words,  permit  me  again  to  quote  the  greatest  of 
Lincoln  poems,  that  of  Edwin  Markham : 

''When  the  Norn-Mother  saw  the  whirlwind  hour, 

Greatening  and  darkening  as  it  hurried  on, 

She  bent  the  strenuous  heavens  and  came  down 

To  make  a  man  to  meet  the  mortal  need. 

She  took  the  tried  clay  of  the  common  road — 

Clay  warm  with  the  genial  heat  of  earth, 

Dashed  through  it  all  a  strain  of  prophecy; 

Then  mixed  a  laughter  with  the  serious  stuff. 

It  was  a  stuff  to  wear  for  centuries, 

A  man  that  matched  the  mountains,  and  compelled 

The  stars  to  look  our  way  and  honor  us. 


GERMANY'S  CENTRAL  EUROPE  POLICY        187 

The  color  of  the  ground  was  in  him,  the  red  earth; 

The  tang  and  odor  of  the  primal  things — 

The  rectitude  and  patience  of  the  rocks, 

The  gladness  of  the  wind  that  shakes  the  corn; 

The  courage  of  the  bird  that  dares  the  sea; 

The  justice  of  the  rain  that  loves  all  leaves; 

The  pity  of  the  snow  that  hides  all  scars ; 

The  loving-kindness  of  the  wayside  well; 

The  tolerance  and  equity  of  light 

That  gives  as  freely  to  the  shrinking  weed 

As  to  the  great  oak  flaring  to  the  wind — 

To  the  graves'  low  hill  as  to  the  Matterhorn, 

That  shoulders  out  the  sky. 

And  so  he  came. 

From  prairie  cabin  up  to  Capitol, 
One  fair  ideal  led  our  chieftain  on. 
Forever  man,  he  burned  to  do  his  deed 
With  the  fine  stroke  and  gesture  of  a  king. 
He  built  the  rail  pile  as  he  built  the  State, 
Pouring  his  splendid  strength  through  every  blow, 
The  conscience  of  him  testing  every  stroke 
To  make  his  deed  the  measure  of  a  man. 
So  came  the  captain  with  the  mighty  heart; 
And  when  the  step  of  earthquake  shook  the  house, 
Wrenching  the  rafters  from  their  ancient  hold, 
He  held  the  ridge-pole  up  and  spiked  again 
The  rafters  of  the  home.     He  held  his  place — 
Held  the  long  purpose  like  a  growing  tree — 
Held  on  through  blame  and  faltered  not  at  praise. 
And  when  he  fell  in  whirlwind,  he  went  down 
As  when  a  kingly  cedar  green  with  bows 
Goes  down  with  a  great  shout  upon  the  hills 
And  leaves  a  lonesome  place  against  the  sky." 

Now,  how  shall  any  man  in  the  compass  of  a  few  moments  en- 
deavor to  answer  the  question  I  have  propounded,  "What  Would 
Lincoln  Say  to  This  Generation  ?"  It  can  be  done  best  by  a  selec- 
tion of  his  own  mighty  words  and  by  the  adoption  and  application 
of  those  words  to  the  crisis  of  our  own  hour.  I  call  your  attention 
rapidly  to  the  fact  that  this  man,  who  had  less  than  six  months 
of  academic  schooling,  who,  at  the  age  of  twenty,  walked  twenty 
miles  to  Springfield  to  borrow  his  first  law  books,  that  this  man,  so 
unlettered  and  unschooled,  was  able,  after  he  emerged  from  ob- 
scurity to  national  prominence,  within  the  space  of  eight  or  ten 
years,  to  deliver  a  large  number  of  political  addresses  of  such 
ability  and  such  worth  that  they  justly  rank  with  the  great  utter- 
ances of  our  American  life  and  at  least  half  a  dozen  of  them  are 
comparable  with  all  the  utterances  of  the  Presidents  and  states- 
men in  the  history  of  the  nation ;  at  least,  the  Gettysburg  Oration 
and  the  Second  Inaugural  Address  have  not  been  matched  in 
public  utterances  since  the  days  of  the  orations  of  Demosthenes, 


188       ONE  HUNDRED  PER  CENT  AMERICAN 

First  of  all,  let  me  bring  before  you  as  typical,  the  address 
delivered  before  the  Republican  State  Convention  at  Springfield, 
Illinois,  in  i860,  at  the  time  of  the  meeting  of  the  newly  organized 
party  in  that  State.  This  address  is  commonly  known  as  the 
"House-Divided-Against-Itself"  speech  because  of  the  sentence 
which  I  quote.  Lincoln  was  warned  against  the  utterance  of  a 
certain  phrase.  They  said,  "It  will  mean  political  suicide."  Have 
you  ever  noticed  how  many  times  he  committed  political  suicide, 
how  many  times  he  was  dead  and  buried,  and  how  many  times 
he  came  again  to  life  and  power?  His  reply  was,  "The  time  has 
come  when  these  words  need  utterance.  If  their  utterance  by  me 
means  political  death,  I  had  rather  go  down  to  my  grave  with  them 
uttered,  than  survive  with  them  silent."  And  therefore  he  said, 
when  slavery  was  the  great  issue  before  the  American  people,  "A 
house  divided  against  itself  cannot  stand."  Take  those  words  of 
sixty  years  ago  and  apply  them  to  American  public  life  to-day, 
and  permit  me  to  say  to  this  distinguished  Republican  Club  in 
this  clearly  great  hour,  that  any  man,  whoever  he  may  be,  who 
seeks  for  personal  advantage  or  political  gain  to  himself,  can 
set  one  element  in  our  national  life  so  against  another  element  as 
to  set  city  against  city,  class  against  class,  is  not  only  guilty  of 
failure  to  meet  a  foe,  but  is  also  traitor  to  his  land  in  its  great 
and  desperate  hour  of  need. 

Let  me  tell  you  again  of  Lincoln's  speech  delivered  in  Clinton, 
Illinois,  at  which  time  Lincoln  first  came  in  controversy  with 
Stephen  A.  Douglas.  Lincoln  had  come  to  Clinton  at  the  time  of 
a  country  fair,  and  if  there  are  gentlemen  here  who,  like  myself, 
are  familiar  with  the  rural  districts  and  county  fairs  in  the  fall 
of  the  year,  you  will  know  what  sort  of  an  occasion  it  was.  Doug- 
las was  speaking  to  a  great  crowd,  and  Lincoln  came  to  the  edge 
of  the  crowd.  There  were  cries  for  Lincoln.  He  said,  "My 
friends,  this  is  Judge  Douglas's  speech.  I  have  no  right  to  inter- 
fere, but  if  you  will  meet  me  later  on  the  east  side  of  the  Court 
House,  I  will  make  some  remarks  on  the  issue  of  the  day." 

Lincoln  said  two  things;  as  illustrating  the  type  of  political 
campaigning,  he  said,  "I  understand  that  this  afternoon  Judge 
Douglas,  losing  his  temper  a  little  possibly,  or  becoming  nervous, 
said  that  he  would  be  willing  to  engage  in  personal  combat 
with  me ;  that  he  would  like  to  thrash  Lincoln.  I  understand  that 
another,  a  partner  of  Douglas,  even  more  nervous,  took  ofT  his 
coat  and  said  he  would  take  the  job  off  Douglas's  hands.  Did 
anybody  hear  him  say  that?  I  shall  not  fight  Judge  Douglas  or 
his  bottle-holder,  for  that  might  prove  that  I  am  more  muscular 
than  he,  or  he  more  muscular  than  I,  and  that  is  not  the  question 
before  the  American  people."    He  went  on  to  say,  "I  understand 


GERMANY'S  CENTRAL  EUROPE  POLICY       189 

Judge  Douglas  to  say  that  I  am  in  favor  of  negro  equality  (in 
order  to  put  Lincoln  in  a  disadvantageous  position).  In  a  cer- 
tain sense,  I  am  in  favor  of  negro  equality.  In  the  right  of  the 
negro  to  eat  the  bread  his  own  hands  have  earned,  he  is  the  equal 
of  Judge  Douglas  or  any  other  man."  Those  words  are  applicable 
to-day  to  all  men,  the  world  around,  and  we  lift  the  question  of 
patriotism  into  the  realm  of  morality  when  we  declare  that  no 
ruler,  that  no  Reichstag,  that  no  Congress,  has  the  right  to  con- 
sider the  multitude  of  toiling  and  suffering  men,  women  and  chil- 
dren of  the  world  as  subject  to  their  whims  alone.  One  of  the 
things  that  needs  to  be  burned  in  the  hearts  of  the  American 
people  is  the  right  of  the  common  man  to  live  in  peace  and  live 
in  the  enjoyment  of  his  own  work,  and  enjoy  the  product  of  his 
own  toil.  In  a  wider  realm,  you  come  to  what  has  just  been 
argued  for  by  the  gentlemen  who  have  just  preceded  me;  the 
recognition  of  the  right  of  self-determination  of  peoples,  the 
right  of  every  people,  little  or  large,  highly  cultured  or  at  a 
primitive  stage  of  advancement,  to  find  their  own  way  into  the 
light  and  into  civilization,  and  to  work  out  the  destiny  which 
God  has  appointed  to  them;  and  the  instinct  and  heroism  of 
every  man  who  loves  his  fellows  rises  in  answer  to  that  affront. 

I  call  your  attention  to  the  Lincoln-Douglas  debates  which 
occurred  in  1858,  for  one  sentence.  Douglas  was  a  candidate 
for  the  United  States  Senate.  A  young  man  twenty  years  of  age, 
he  walked  into  Winchester,  Illinois,  with  thirty  cents  sewed  in  his 
pocket,  and  within  fifteen  years  he  became  an  auctioneer,  then 
school-teacher,  then  a  practicing  attorney,  then  Attorney-General 
of  the  State  of  Illinois,  then  Registrar  of  Deeds,  appointed  by  the 
President  Secretary  of  State,  then  Justice  of  the  Supreme  Court, 
then  a  member  of  the  lower  House  of  Congress,  and  then  United 
States  Senator,  all  in  less  than  fifteen  years. 

On  a  bronze  tablet  by  the  gateway  of  Knox  College,  are 
inscribed  these  words : 

"They  are  blowing  out  the  moral  light  around  us,  who  con- 
tend that  whoever  wants  to  own  slaves  has  a  right  to  do  so," 

for  the  first  time  lifting  the  whole  issue  and  program  and  out- 
come above  the  level  of  political  expediency  up  to  the  level  of 
morality. 

Abraham  Lincoln  was  invited  by  a  Young  Men's  Society  in 
Plymouth  Church,  Brooklyn,  to  come  to  Brooklyn  and  deliver 
an  address  for  which  he  was  to  receive  $200.  He  had  neg- 
lected his  law  practice,  and  $200  looked  very  good  to  Abra- 
ham Lincoln;  but  he  said,  "If  you  find  you  are  not  likely  to 


190   ONE  HUNDRED  PER  CENT  AMERICAN 

sell  tickets  enough,  let  me  know."  He  found  it  was  to  be  held 
in  Cooper  Institute.  When  the  hour  came,  that  great  audi- 
torium was  filled  with  a  mighty  company  that  contained  every 
man  of  prominence  in  the  intellectual  and  political  life  of  New 
York.  He  was  escorted  by  Horace  Greeley,  Henry  Ward 
Beecher,  Joseph  Choate  and  David  Dudley  Field,  the  Chairman 
of  the  meeting  being  the  poet,  William  Cullen  Bryant. 

He  came  an  unheralded  stranger,  but  he  took  that  audience 
of  culture  in  the  hollow  of  his  hands,  and  by  the  magic  of  the 
simplicity  of  human  speech,  won  the  hearts  of  those  people. 
The  prophet  of  that  day  said, 

"Let  us  have  faith  that  right  makes  might,  and  in  that  faith 
let  us  to  the  end  dare  to  do  our  duty  as  we  understand  it." 

Four  years  ago  and  less,  as  the  result  of  a  long  calculated 
and  deliberately  laid  plan,  there  was  flung  into  the  world  the 
insolent  challenge  that  might  makes  right,  and  the  nations  of  the 
world  have  responded  with  the  answer:    "It's  a  lie." 

I  omit  entirely  the  First  Inaugural  Address  to  which  I  should 
like  to  refer  if  time  permitted,  to  go  to  the  Gettysburg  Oration. 
I  have  a  personal  friend,  the  last  surviving  member  of  the  Gettys- 
burg Commission,  who  tells  me  that  that  oration  very  nearly 
was  never  delivered;  but  one  day  when  the  Committee  met, 
one  of  them  said,  "Perhaps  we  have  made  a  mistake  in  not  in- 
cluding an  invitation  to  President  Lincoln.  We  ought  to  invite 
him."  So  the  invitation  was  extended,  and  Lincoln  said  that 
he  would  accept.  Then  the  Commission  said,  "Now,  what  shall 
we  do  with  him?  He  is  a  ready  debater;  he  is  a  rough  and 
ready  lawyer;  but  this  is  a  solemn  occasion,  and  we  don't  want 
to  spoil  it  by  any  uncouthness."  One  of  his  friends  undertook 
to  guarantee  him. 

After  one  address,  a  tall,  lank  fellow  arose  and  came  to  the 
front  of  the  platform.  It  was  in  November,  1863,  that  Lincoln 
delivered  in  a  little  more  than  two  hundred  and  fifty  words, 
twenty  lines  of  ordinary  print,  the  most  matchless  utterance  in 
our  speech,  containing  all  the  elements  of  a  great  oration. 

"Fourscore  and  seven  years  ago  our  fathers  brought  forth 
on  this  continent  a  new  nation,  conceived  in  liberty,  and  dedi- 
cated to  the  proposition  that  all  men  are  created  equal.  Now  we 
are  engaged  in  a  great  civil  war,  testing  whether  that  nation,  or 
any  nation  so  conceived  and  so  dedicated,  can  long  endure.  We 
are  met  on  a  great  battlefield  of  that  war.  We  have  come  to 
dedicate  a  portion  of  that  field  as  a  final  resting-place  for  those 
who  here  gave  their  lives  that  that  nation  might  live." 


GERMANY'S  CENTRAL  EUROPE  POLICY       191 

You  might  talk  for  an  hour  and  not  get  a  situation  any  more 
clear  than  that. 

And  now  I  come  to  the  most  dramatic  episode  in  all  public 
utterance.  Lincoln  had  come  to  dedicate  a  few  acres  of  ground. 
He  saw  the  vices  of  his  countrymen  and  saw  beyond  them  the 
vices  of  all  the  nation  and  of  all  the  people  to  come  after  them. 
The  great  commoner  was  a  prophet  of  freedom. 

"It  is  altogether  fitting  and  proper  that  we  should  do  this. 

"But,  in  a  larger  sense,  we  cannot  dedicate — we  cannot  con- 
secrate— we  cannot  hallow  this  ground.  The  brave  men,  living 
and  dead,  who  struggled  here  have  consecrated  it  far  above 
our  poor  power  to  add  or  detract.  The  world  will  little  note 
nor  long  remember  what  we  say  here,  but  it  can  never  forget 
what  they  did  here.  It  is  for  us,  the  living,  rather,  to  be  dedi- 
cated here  to  the  unfinished  work  which  they  who  fought  here 
have  thus  far  so  nobly  advanced." 

I  believe  that  at  that  hour  Lincoln  was  speaking,  not  only  for 
himself,  not  only  for  the  cause  of  liberty  then,  but  for  the  down- 
trodden of  all  time ;  speaking,  as  I  verily  believe,  for  all  the  gen- 
erations of  all  nations  through  the  ages ;  dedicating  himself  to 
the  cause  of  liberty;  and  at  that  hour  he  made  it  impossible 
for  the  American  people  permanently  to  stay  out  of  this  war. 
I  almost  think  I  ought  to  stop  at  that  point ;  but  because  of 
your  very  ready  response,  I  shall  not.  I  must  not  forget  that 
we  have  not  yet  reached  the  culmination  even  of  that  short 
address.  The  distinguished  historian  said  it,  the  gentleman  at 
my  left  said  it,  the  gentleman  at  my  right  said  it,  all  in  different 
words,  what  Lincoln  said,  and  what  I  say  again,  when  he  went 
on  to  say, 

"It  is  rather  for  us  to  be  here  dedicated  to  the  great  task 
remaining  before  us — that  from  these  honored  dead  we  take 
increased  devotion  to  that  cause  for  which  they  gave  the  last 
full  measure  of  devotion." 

Think  of  the  five  millions  of  men  in  their  graves,  and  other 
millions  of  men,  women  and  children  who  have  died  and  whose 
bones  bleach  beneath  the  skies,  who  have  suffered  all  manner  of 
torture,  and,  speaking  in  the  same  words  as  Lincoln  used,  let  us 
"here  highly  resolve  that  these  dead  shall  not  have  died 
in  vain";  it  is  not  for  you  or  for  me  or  for  men  who  sit 
around  any  council  table  to  make  any  peace  that  forgets  the  men 
who  have  given  their  lives. 

And  there  is  a  third  thing  in  that  speech,  which  I  must  point 


192   ONE  HUNDRED  PER  CENT  AMERICAN 

out  to  you.  I  never  saw  it  until  six  months  ago.  Lincoln  was 
not  speaking  merely  of  the  maintenance  of  democratic  insti- 
tutions in  America,  for,  by  a  strange  providential  circumstance, 
he  used  a  different  word. 

Let  us  highly  resolve  "that  this  nation,  under  God,  shall  have 
a  new  birth  of  freedom;  and  that  government  of  the  people, 
by  the  people,  for  the  people,  shall  not  perish  from  the  earth." 

Not  merely  from  America.  God  kept  this  great  land  secret 
for  the  centuries,  that  mighty  Mississippi  Valley  from  which  I 
came,  until  less  than  a  century  ago,  untouched,  uninhabited.  For 
what  cause?  That  in  such  an  hour  as  this  there  might  be  men 
into  whose  hearts  had  come  the  mighty  vision  to  meet  the  great 
assault,  and  to  make  it  true  that  the  common  man  should  not  go 
down  in  sorrow,  in  tears  and  in  suffering;  but  that  they  who 
do  the  work  of  the  world,  who  bear  the  burdens  of  the  world, 
who,  after  all,  are  humanity,  shall  not  be  the  property  of  kings 
or  the  playthings  of  men  of  power. 

I  come,  for  speed,  to  the  last;  but  before  I  close,  I  want 
to  ask  your  indulgence  for  another  local,  immediate  touch.  It 
is  rather  interesting  how  a  man  can  sometimes  come  in  from 
outside  and  tell  people  who  have  lived  in  a  city  all  their  lives 
of  something  about  it  that  they  may  not  have  known.  How  many 
of  you  knew  Edmund  Clarence  Stedman,  the  banker  poet  of  New 
York?  When  Lincoln  was  in  the  White  House,  in  the  dark 
hours  of  the  Civil  War,  he  came  one  day  to  his  Cabinet  meeting 
laughing,  reading  one  of  the  books  of  Artemus  Ward.  Stanton 
and  Chase  looked  rather  surprised  that  Lincoln  could  laugh  at 
such  a  time  as  that.  He  took  the  occasion  to  read  to  them  a 
poem  written  by  Edmund  Clarence  Stedman,  which  I  quote : 

Back  from  the  trebly  crimsoned  field 
Terrible  words  are  thunder-tost; 
Full  of  the  wrath  that  will  not  yield, 
Full  of  revenge  for  battles  lost! 
Hark  to  their  echo  as  it  crost 
The  Capital,  making  faces  wan, 
Went  this  murderous  holocaust : 
Abraham  Lincoln,  give  us  a  man! 

Give  us  a  man  of  God's  own  mould, 
Born  to  marshal  his  fellow  men; 
One  whose  fame  is  not  bought  and  sold 
At  the  stroke  of  a  politician's  pen; 
Give  us  the  man  of  thousands  ten, 
Fit  to  do  as  well  as  to  plan ; 
Give  us  a  rallying  cry  and  then 
Abraham  Lincoln,  give  us  a  man! 


GERMANY'S  CENTRAL  EUROPE  POLICY       193 

No  leader  to  shirk  the  boasting  foe 

And  to  march  and  counter-march  our  brave, 

Till  they  fall  like  ghosts  in  the  marshes  low 

And  swamp-grass  covers  each  nameless  grave, 

Nor  another,  whose  fatal  banners  wave 

Aye  in  disaster's  shameful  van; 

Nor  another  to  bluster  and  lie  and  rave; 

Abraham  Lincoln,  give  us  a  man! 

Is  there  never  one  in  all  the  land, 
One  on  whose  might  the  cause  may  lean; 
Are  all  the  common  ones  so  grand 
And  all  the  titled  ones  so  mean? 
What  if  your  failure  may  have  been 
In  trying  to  make  good  bread  from  bran, 
From  worthless  metal  a  weapon  keen; 
Abraham  Lincoln,  give  us  a  man! 

Oh,  we  will  follow  him,  court  death, 
Where  the  foeman's  fiercest  columns  are; 
Oh,  we  will  use  our  latest  breath, 
Peering  for  every  sacred  star ! 
His  to  marshal  us  high  and  far, 
Ours  to  battle  as  patriots  can, 
When  a  hero  leads  the  Holy  War; 
Abraham  Lincoln,  give  us  a  man! 

New  Yorkers,  don't  forget,  when  sometimes  you  question 
the  loyalty  and  patriotism  of  the  Middle  West,  that  when  Lin- 
coln found  the  man,  though  he  sleeps  in  his  splendid  grave  on 
Riverside  Drive,  nevertheless  he  came  from  Ohio. 

I  must  here  introduce  two  words,  in  which,  before  the  last 
part  of  the  second  inaugural,  Lincoln  says  that  both  North  and 
South  prayed  to  the  same  God,  and  that  the  prayers  of  both 
could  not  be  answered.  I  am  a  preacher  of  religion.  I  measure 
my  words.  I  speak,  I  hope,  without  hatred  or  bitterness.  I  utter 
what  I  believe  to  be  a  solemn  truth  when  I  say  that  the  God  of 
the  Emperor  William  is  not  the  God  of  the  American  people,  and 
we  do  not  pray  to  him.  The  kind  of  a  deity  who  he  believes  is 
the  unfaltering  and  unwavering  ally  of  murder,  piracy,  lust  and 
greed,  is  no  God  of  mine. 

But,  after  that,  he  went  on  to  say : 

"Fondly  do  we  hope — fervently  do  we  pray — that  this  mighty 
scourage  of  war  may  speedily  pass  away.  Yet,  if  God  wills  that  it 
continue  until  all  the  wealth  piled  up  by  the  bondman's  two  hun- 
dred and  fifty  years  of  unrequited  toil  shall  be  sunk,  and  until 
every  drop  of  blood  drawn  with  the  lash  shall  be  paid  by  another 
drawn  with  the  sword,  as  was  said  three  thousand  years  ago,  so 
still  it  must  be  said,  'The  judgments  of  the  Lord  are  true  and 
righteous  altogether.' " 


194       ONE  HUNDRED  PER  CENT  AMERICAN 

"With  malice  toward  none;  with  charity  for  all;  with  firm- 
ness in  the  right,  as  God  gives  us  to  see  the  right;  let  us  strive 
on  to  finish  the  work  we  are  in ;  to  bind  up  the  nation's  wounds ; 
to  care  for  him  who  shall  have  borne  the  battle,  and  for  his 
widow  and  his  orphan — to  do  all  which  may  achieve  and  cherish 
a  just  and  lasting  peace  among  ourselves  and  with  all  nations." 

May  I  close  with  the  words  of  James  S.  Mackey? 

"And  so  they  buried  Lincoln?     Strange  and  vain! 

Has  any  creature  thought  of  Lincoln  hid 

In  any  vault,  'neath  any  coffin  lid, 

In  all  the  years  since  that  wild  spring  of  pain? 

'Tis  false — he  never  in  the  grave  was  lain. 

You  could  not  bury  him  although  you  slid 

Upon  his  clay  the  Cheops  pyramid 

Or  heaped  it  with  the  Rocky  Mountain  chain. 

They  slew  themselves ;  they  but  set  Lincoln  free : 

In  all  the  world  his  great  heart  beats  as  strong, 

Shall  beat  while  pulses  throb  to  chivalry 

And  burn  with  hate  of  tyranny  and  wrong. 

Whoever  will  may  find  him  anywhere 

Save  in  the  grave !    Not  there !    He  is  not  there !" 


SIXTH   DISCUSSION 

FEBRUARY   NINTH,    I918 
THE  MORAL  ISSUES  OF  THE  WAR 


THE  MORAL  ISSUES  OF  THE  WAR 


ONE:     HONORABLE  FREDERICK  C.  HICKS 

Member  of  Congress 

For  a  great  many  years  I  have  had  the  pleasure  of  sitting 
there  in  the  rear,  listening  to  the  discussions  on  these  Saturday 
afternoons.  I  little  thought  then  that  I  was  in  line  for  promo- 
tion from  the  gallery  to  the  stage ;  but  I  appreciate  sincerely  the 
courtesy  of  being  asked  to  come  here  to-day  to  speak  to  my  fel- 
low-members of  this  Club.  It  is  very  pleasing  to  me  to  be  asked 
to  speak  on  the  subject  which  has  been  mentioned  as  the  topic 
to-day,  the  question  of  morals.  It  is  a  very  gratifying  thing  to 
a  politician  at  any  time  in  his  career  to  talk  about  morals;  but 
I  am  considerably  puzzled  to  know  where  I  am  going  to  come 
in,  for  the  simple  reason  that  my  friend  on  my  left  told  me  pri- 
vately that  if  it  was  going  to  be  anything  in  favor  of  morals 
he  wanted  to  speak  on  it,  and  if  it  was  going  to  be  anything  on 
the  other  side,  my  friend  on  my  right,  Mr.  Biddle,  will  speak 
for  me ! 

It  so  happens  that  I  am  a  member  of  the  Naval  Committee 
of  Congress  and  we  are  spending  day  after  day  in  going  over 
items  in  the  great  Appropriation  Bill  now  before  us,  which  car- 
ries over  one  billion  dollars,  the  largest  naval  bill  in  the  history 
of  this  country.  When  I  speak  on  the  Navy  I  must  apologize  to 
you  in  advance,  as  I  can't  be  as  specific  as  I  would  like  because  of 
public  policy,  and  I  will  ask  you  to  bear  with  me  if  I  omit  some 
figures  or  dates  here  and  there.  I  want  to  say  to  you  that  the 
Navy  of  the  United  States  to-day  is  prepared  to  do  what  the 
Navy  of  the  United  States  has  always  done.  There  are  in 
foreign  waters  at  this  moment  a  number  of  the  capital  ships  of 
our  Navy  as  well  as  a  large  fleet  of  destroyers,  yachts  and  small 
vessels  used  in  patrol  work,  the  first  of  which  reached  the  other 
side  on  May  4th  last,  all  manned,  armed  and  equipped  by  the 
American  Navy.  We  have  placed  many  hundreds  of  gunners 
on  our  own  armed  merchant  ships,  supplying  both  the  crews  and 
the  guns.  We  have  furnished  many  guns  for  use  of  the 
mercantile  service  of  our  allies  and  are  ready  to  send  to  the  bat- 
tle fronts  from  our  great  gun  factories  many  pieces  of  ordnance, 

197 


198       ONE  HUNDRED  PER  CENT  AMERICAN 

not  small  guns,  but  large  guns,  guns  that  will  answer  the  chal- 
lenge that  has  been  sent  out  from  Berlin. 

The  personnel  of  the  Navy  has  expanded  three  hundred  per 
cent,  since  this  war  began,  and  to-day,  roughly  speaking,  repre- 
sents three  hundred  thousand  men  in  the  service.  The  training 
facilities  of  our  Navy  have  increased  from  six  thousand  men  a 
year  ago  to  one  hundred  and  thirteen  thousand,  and  there  are 
in  training  now  about  ninety-five  thousand  men. 

The  building  program  of  destroyers,  submarine  chasers 
and  other  small  craft  has  been  tremendously  augmented.  De- 
spite the  former  pacifist  views  of  Air.  Henry  Ford,  he  is  to-day 
performing  a  great  work  in  advancing  the  fighting  forces  of  the 
nation,  by  constructing  a  large  number  of  chasers  of  the  most 
improved  type.  These  vessels  will  be  fabricated  and  launched  in 
Detroit,  and  then  brought  through  the  canals  to  the  seaboard.  It 
would  hearten  your  spirits  could  I  tell  you  all  the  Navy  is  do- 
ing. Rest  assured  that  the  Navy  of  the  United  States,  imbued 
with  the  courage  and  determination  that  has  come  to  it  from  an 
heroic  past,  stands  ready  to  maintain  America's  honor  and 
America's  purposes.  Despite  submarines  and  mines,  despite  raid- 
ers and  aeroplanes,  those  ships,  whether  they  are  lying  in  readi- 
ness for  an  offensive  move  or  whether  they  are  convoying  a 
fleet,  wherever  they  may  be  on  the  surging  seas,  the  Allied  Na- 
vies of  the  world  are  still  the  masters  of  the  wave. 

I  am  going  to  speak  now,  of  some  of  the  things  that  I  saw  on 
the  battlefront,  having  been  one  of  that  party  of  ten  Congress- 
men who,  three  months  ago,  went  abroad.  We  spent  several 
weeks  going  from  one  end  of  the  line  to  the  other,  traveling  six 
hundred  miles  along  the  Western  Front.  I  am  going  to  make 
this  a  running  narrative,  because,  after  Doctor  Williams  has 
spoken  so  eloquently  of  the  great  questions  at  stake,  it  would  be 
out  of  place  for  me  to  endeavor  to  discuss  the  issues.  I  am  go- 
ing to  pass  over  the  trip  from  New  York  to  Liverpool,  except 
merely  to  say  that  in  going  out  from  Sandy  Hook  we  realized 
at  once  that  we  were  in  war.  No  running  lights  on  the  ship,  no 
side  lights,  port  holes  battened  down  at  night  from  the  outside, 
and  no  one  even  allowed  to  smoke  on  deck,  for  fear  that  a 
lighted  match  would  disclose  the  location  of  the  vessel.  Day 
after  day  we  plowed  eastward,  the  only  break  in  our  daily  pro- 
gram being  the  few  hours  spent  each  day  in  drills  and  gun 
practice,  when  the  ship  maneuvered  round  a  target  while  our 
gun  crews  practiced  shooting.  Two  days  before  we  reached  the 
Mersey  we  were  met  by  two  destroyers  which  convoyed  us  into 
port.  At  Liverpool  we  saw  ship  after  ship  unloading  their  human 
freight  of  American  soldiers  and  it  was  inspiring  to  see  our  boys 


THE  MORAL  ISSUES  OF  THE  WAR  199 

in  uniform  following  the  old  flag  three  thousand  miles  away  from 
home. 

From  Liverpool  we  went  to  London,  where  we  were  met  by 
Ambassador  Page  and  Mr.  Ian  Malcolm  of  the  British  Foreign 
Office.  The  next  day  we  were  informally  received  at  the  Ameri- 
can Embassy  by  Mr.  Page  and  attaches.  It  is  both  a  duty  and  a 
pleasure  to  pay  a  well  merited  tribute  to  our  representative  in 
London  and  his  staff.  The  United  States  has  never  sent  to  Great 
Britain  a  more  popular  or  more  able  ambassador  than  Mr. 
Page,  and  the  work  he  is  doing  and  has  done  reflects  the  greatest 
credit  upon  our  country  and  is  deserving  of  the  highest  praise. 

London  to-day  is  different  from  the  London  of  peace  times. 
We  saw  in  the  city  and  nearby  towns,  buildings  partly  com- 
pleted and  temporarily  abandoned,  for  practically  all  construc- 
tion work  not  incident  to  the  war  was  stopped  at  the  out- 
break of  hostilities.  You  see  on  the  face  of  every  one  you  meet 
that  stern,  set  expression  which  means  undying  determination 
to  win  the  war.  There  are  soldiers  marching  up  and  down 
the  streets,  some  wounded,  others  on  leave  of  absence,  and  still 
others  who  are  on  their  way  to  the  front.  At  night  almost  total 
darkness  prevails,  just  a  faint  glimmer  in  the  streets,  for  only 
one  out  of  three  lamps  is  lighted,  and  these  have  great  reflectors 
to  prevent  any  glare  shining  upward.  'No  shop  windows  are 
allowed  to  have  their  shutters  open  at  night,  and  in  the  hotels 
the  blinds  are  all  tightly  closed.  It  is  a  severe  offense  to  open 
them  when  a  light  is  burning.  We  had  an  interesting  experience 
in  an  attempted  raid,  and,  while  we  were  not  bombed,  we  had 
all  of  the  sensations.  We  were  at  a  conference  when  sud- 
denly we  heard  the  cry  "Take  to  shelter,"  "Take  to  shelter,"  as 
the  Boy  Scouts,  who  are  in  charge  of  this  duty,  ran  through  the 
streets  warning  the  people.  The  authorities  knew  of  the  ap- 
proach of  these  raiders,  because  when  the  airships  fly  over  the 
channel,  the  moment  they  are  spotted  on  their  approaching  land, 
it  is  telegraphed  to  London,  and  the  officers  have  an  hour's  lee- 
way in  preparing  for  defense.  When  we  started  for  our  hotel 
the  streets  were  almost  deserted,  the  only  sound  being  the 
scurrying  of  feet  and  the  cry  of  these  boys.  The  few  people  re- 
maining were  hurrying  in  every  direction  to  shelter.  All  through 
the  streets  signs  are  posted  with  a  directing  finger  to  indicate 
"Safety  zones,"  "Fifty  can  be  accommodated  in  this  cellar," 
"Seventy-five  can  find  shelter  here."  Stations  in  the  tube,  cel- 
lars, underground  passages,  every  refuge  that  will  afford  pro- 
tection, is  utilized.  I  can  assure  you  we  did  not  waste  much  time 
going  to  our  hotel.  We  finally  reached  our  destination  with  the 
night  air  still  resounding  with  the  cry  "Take  to  shelter."    How- 


200       ONE  HUNDRED  PER  CENT  AMERICAN 

ever,  there  was  no  raid  that  night,  for  the  aeroplanes  had  been 
checked  by  anti-aircraft  guns  some  distance  from  London,  and 
so  we  missed  the  experience  of  having  bombs  dropped  upon  us. 

In  food  supplies  England  is  feeling  the  effect  of  the  submarine 
sinkings,  and  there  is  a  shortage  of  some  of  the  staples,  especially 
flour  and  sugar.  The  portions  placed  before  one  in  the  res- 
taurants, though  sufficient,  are  small,  and  strict  limits  are  placed 
upon  the  quantities  served.  At  breakfast,  for  instance,  two 
pieces  of  brown  war  bread  was  the  allowance,  and  two  small 
lumps  of  sugar — lumps  no  larger  than  raisins — and  if  one  or- 
dered oatmeal  the  little  pieces  might  be  exchanged  for  the  same 
amount  of  brown  granulated  sugar,  and  then  one  would  have  to 
drink  one's  coffee  without  being  sweetened. 

I  want  to  speak  for  a  moment  of  some  of  the  great  hospitals 
in  London  and  especially  the  orthopedic  hospitals,  where  they 
rebuild  the  human  wreckage  of  war.  It  was  one  of  the  most 
depressing  as  well  as  one  of  the  most  encouraging  sights  I 
saw  abroad.  It  was  really  marvelous  to  see  the  way  in  which 
surgeons  at  these  institutions  salvage  the  men  who  are  sent 
there,  and  it  means  much  for  the  economic  future  of  the  na- 
tion. Some  men  come  in  without  arms,  some  without  legs,  some 
are  blind,  others  are  so  shattered  in  their  heads  or  bodies  that  it 
seems  impossible  to  do  anything  to  remedy  their  pitiful  con- 
dition. I  have  seen  men  with  parts  of  the  jaw  fractured,  others 
with  nose  and  cheeks  lacerated  by  a  piece  of  shell.  In  restoring 
face  wounds  where  the  bone  has  been  cut  away,  they  take  a 
piece  of  a  rib  of  the  wounded  man  to  replace  the  loss,  carefully 
fitting  the  new  part  into  the  cavity.  Or,  if  this  be  impracticable, 
they  take  the  rib  from  a  brother  or  sister  or  some  other  near 
blood  relative.  I  saw  one  of  these  men  after  he  had  been  treated 
for  several  months.  They  showed  us  a  picture  of  him  taken  the 
day  he  was  received  at  the  hospital.  The  change  was  almost  un- 
believable— his  nose,  cheek  and  one-half  of  his  jaw  had  been 
blown  away.  When  I  saw  him  several  months  after  the  initial 
treatment,  while  there  was  still  a  frightful  scar,  he  was  able 
to  use  his  jaw  almost  as  well  as  you  or  I.  He  could  speak,  he 
could  eat,  and  all  without  pain.  One  man  who  had  lost  a  leg  at 
the  thigh  and  the  other  at  the  knee  was  so  reconstructed  by  the 
use  of  artificial  limbs  that  for  several  moments  after  I  saw  him 
I  was  not  aware  he  was  not  using  his  natural  legs.  Another 
man  had  lost  an  arm  at  the  shoulder  and  had  an  artificial  one, 
which  was  so  adjusted  with  contrivances  and  pulleys,  that  he 
could  use  it  with  almost  the  same  power  and  dexterity  as 
formerly.  He  was  able  to  write,  ride  a  bicycle,  use  a  typewriter, 
row  a  boat,  dig  with  a  spade,  and  even  shave  himself.    I  saw  him 


THE  MORAL  ISSUES  OF  THE  WAR  201 

lift,  at  arm's  length,  with  the  artificial  limb,  a  fifty-pound  sledge 
hammer,  and  what  was  probably  more  startling  was  to  see  him 
take  his  pouch  of  tobacco  from  one  pocket,  which  he  held  in 
one  hand  with  his  pipe,  and  then  with  the  contrivance  on  the 
artificial  hand,  take  a  pinch  of  tobacco  and  pack  it  into  his  pipe. 
Many  soldiers  suffer  from  shell  shock,  due  to  the  terrific  bom- 
bardment to  which  they  have  been  subjected.  They  may  be 
physically  sound  and  in  perfect  health  except  for  dislocated 
nerves.  Some  are  unable  to  walk;  others  cannot  use  their  arms 
or  hands.  For  hours,  volunteer  nurses  sit  beside  these  men, 
searching  with  electric  vibrators  for  a  nerve  which  yet  has  life. 
Perhaps  at  first  the  dormant  nerve  will  respond  by  only  an  al- 
most imperceptible  quiver  but  by  constant  treatment,  day  after 
day,  it  will  be  restored  to  its  normal  condition.  Then  another 
nerve  is  treated,  until  finally  the  man  can  again  walk  or  use 
his  hands. 

Great  Britain  cares  for  her  blinded  sailors  and  soldiers  at  St. 
Dunstans  Hospital,  where  350  of  these  unfortunates  are 
quartered.  The  hospital  is  situated  on  the  estate  of  Mr.  Otto 
Kahn,  of  New  York,  who  contributes  the  use  of  his  property  to 
this  splendid  work.  Sir  Arthur  Pearson,  himself  blind,  is  the 
financial  sponser  to  the  institution.  The  men  are  taught  useful  oc- 
cupations and  everything  is  done  to  prevent  the  blinded  soldiers 
from  falling  into  the  slough  of  despond,  which  usually  engulfs  a 
man  who  has  suddenly  lost  the  sense  of  sight.  Instead  of  this,  his 
fighting  spirit  is  aroused  as  he  learns  of  the  full  and  wonderful 
lives  of  usefulness  achieved  by  others,  and  he  realizes  that  closed 
eyelids  do  not  mean  lack  of  vision.  He  is  inspired  with  the  motto 
"What  others  can  make  of  life  I  can  also  make."  Gainful  trades 
are  taught,  which  will  enable  these  sightless  men  to  take  their 
places  in  the  economic  world.  Shorthand  writing,  telephone 
operating,  shoe  repairing,  mat  and  basket-making,  joinery, 
gardening,  poultry  raising,  and  massage  are  the  occupations  in 
which  these  blind  veterans  find  their  opportunities  to  become  fac- 
tors in  the  industrial  life  of  the  nation.  Many  volunteer  workers 
give  their  time  and  patience  to  this  noble  work.  The  men  are 
taught  to  read  and  write  by  the  Braille  system,  and  a  short  ad- 
dress I  made  to  some  of  the  workers  was  handed  me  as  it  had 
been  taken  down  by  the  blind  typist  in  this  code  of  the  sight- 
less. The  days  are  divided  into  class  and  lecture  room  exercises, 
shopwork,  and  recreation.  In  many  of  the  workrooms  the  men 
were  singing  as  their  nimble  fingers  plaited  the  baskets  and  mats, 
and  everywhere  there  was  an  absence  of  that  depression  and 
helplessness  which  is  so  often  associated  with  a  life  of  blindness. 

In  the  shops,  although  there  are  sighted  foreman  in  each  de- 


202       ONE  HUNDRED  PER  CENT  AMERICAN 

partment,  the  instruction  is  mainly  given  by  men  who  are  them- 
selves blind.  The  mere  intelligent  and  apt  soldiers  are  kept  to 
be  pupil  teachers,  in  order  to  encourage  the  newcomer  by  the 
fact  that  he  is  profiting  by  the  knowledge  of  a  man,  who  was 
himself  blinded  on  the  battle  field  only  a  short  time  before. 

The  amount  of  ingenuity  that  has  been  put  into  this  salvaging 
of  human  beings  is  one  of  the  marvels  of  the  war.  The  science 
of  medicine  and  surgery  under  the  spur  of  necessity  has  made 
rapid  strides  in  the  past  three  years,  and  the  knowledge  and  ex- 
perience acquired  will  be  one  of  the  compensations  for  the  sacri- 
fices made.  When  the  true  history  of  this  war  is  written  in  the 
perspective  of  future  years  it  will  tell  of  the  movement  of  ships 
and  of  armies,  of  victories  on  land  and  sea,  of  heroism  in  the 
air  and  in  the  depths.  It  will  speak  also  of  that  great  human  side 
of  the  conflict — the  silent,  prayerful  sorrows  of  devoted  mothers, 
wives  and  daughters.  It  will  tell  of  the  men  of  genius  and 
women  of  patience  who  gave  every  ounce  of  their  strength  and 
the  full  measure  of  their  skill  to  the  task  of  restoring  human 
beings,  of  rebuilding  the  bodies  and  the  minds  of  men  seemingly 
hopelessly  injured,  and  implanting  in  their  shattered  frames 
hope  and  confidence  to  fight  life's  battles  anew. 

On  our  first  Sunday  in  England  a  very  gracious  compliment 
was  paid  us.  Under  the  escort  of  Mr.  Ian  Malcolm,  M.  P.,  we 
were  conducted  through  Windsor  Castle,  the  great  halls  of  this 
ancient  fortress  being  opened  as  a  special  favor.  We  were  first 
taken  to  St.  George's  Chapel,  the  meeting  place  of  the  Knights  of 
the  Garter,  where  we  were  honored  by  being  seated  in  the  stalls 
occupied  by  the  Knights  when  in  attendance.  At  the  close  of 
the  services,  the  great  organ  in  deep,  dulcet  tones,  pealed  out 
the  "Star  Spangled  Banner,"  the  first  time  in  history  that  the 
American  national  anthem  had  echoed  in  this  stately  church. 

The  day  previous  to  our  departure  for  the  Continent  was  a 
memorable  one,  for  we  had  the  opportunity  of  hearing  Lloyd 
George  deliver  in  the  House  of  Commons  one  of  his  master- 
pieces of  oratory.  This  great  commoner,  every  fiber  of  whose 
being  responds  to  the  call  of  democracy — alert,  resourceful,  cour- 
ageous and  determined — delivered  that  day,  on  behalf  of  the 
sailors  and  soldiers  of  Great  Britain,  one  of  the  finest,  most 
inspiring  eulogies  that  I  have  ever  listened  to.  We  lunched  that 
day  with  many  of  the  leaders  of  Parliament,  and  to  my  oft-re- 
peated query,  "What  can  America  do  to  bring  this  war  to  a 
speedy  termination?"  I  invariably  received  the  answer,  "Build 
ships,  airplanes  and  guns."  Transportation  is  undoubtedly  the 
greatest  factor  in  the  struggle.  On  it  depends  not  only  the  send- 
ing of  soldiers  but  the  shipment  of  supplies  to  maintain  them. 


THE  MORAL  ISSUES  OF  THE  WAR  203 

Transportation  is  vital  also  for  the  support  of  our  allies.  Both 
airships  and  artillery  are  almost  as  essential  to  the  success  of 
our  cause  as  ocean  tonnage.  As  Sir  Charles  Beresford,  re- 
tired admiral  of  the  British  fleet,  said,  "We  want  guns,  guns,  and 
then  more  guns."  Mr.  Lloyd  George  was  equally  emphatic  about 
the  need  of  ships,  aircraft  and  artillery.  He  said,  "Do  not  over- 
look the  supreme  importance  of  a  large  number  of  guns  of  all 
sizes,  especially  the  three-inch  caliber  and  larger." 

Paris  to-day  presents  almost  the  same  appearance  that  it  did 
before  the  war.  It  is  true  that  the  streets  are  full  of  soldiers, 
and  that  women  and  old  men  have  to  a  very  large  degree  taken 
the  places  of  men  in  the  stores,  but  the  streets  at  night  are  as 
brilliantly  lighted  as  formerly,  the  restaurants  and  theaters  are 
open,  the  shops  offer  their  usual  display  of  attractions  and  busi- 
ness goes  on  in  much  the  same  way  as  it  did  in  pre-war  days. 
Underlying  it  all  there  is  that  ever-present  nervous  strain  and 
the  faces  of  the  men  and  women  show  the  tension  under  which 
they  are  living.  They  are  economizing  too  and  husbanding  their 
resources,  as  France,  for  three  and  a  half  years,  has  borne  the 
brunt  of  the  conflict.  Think  for  a  moment  of  her  burden ;  think, 
too,  of  the  rekindled  heroism  of  her  people  that  carried  forward 
her  soldiers  under  the  most  terrible  blows  of  war  ever  known. 
One  and  a  half  million  of  her  sons  dead,  one  and  a  half  million 
more  either  prisoners  or  so  injured  as  to  be  of  no  further  mili- 
tary service;  thousands  of  her  women  and  children  victims  of 
the  savagery  of  war;  scores  of  her  cities  and  towns  shape- 
less ruins;  hundreds  of  acres  of  her  rich  soil  desolate  wastes; 
her  churches  desecrated,  her  homes  destroyed;  and  yet  the 
spirit  of  France  rises  supreme  to  the  horrors,  the  losses  and  the 
sacrifices  that  she  has  made  and  will  continue  to  make.  The 
heroic  nation,  bleeding  and  maimed,  yet  stands  steadfast  between 
Prussia  and  her  ambition  to  rule  the  world.  It  is  the  soul  of 
France  that  speaks  through  the  tears  and  gloom,  giving  a 
promise,  like  the  rainbow  in  the  heavens,  that  democracy  is  safe 
in  her  keeping. 

The  first  real  battle  front  we  saw  was  at  Soissons,  where 
there  was  a  terrific  bombardment  last  summer.  It  was  here 
at  Chemin  des  Dames,  "the  road  of  the  ladies,"  a  long,  low, 
nearly  level  ridge,  that  the  French,  in  seven  days'  fighting,  ex- 
pended $100,000,000  worth  of  ammunition.  As  we  approached  the 
line  the  highways  became  choked  with  the  moving  mass  of  men, 
guns  and  trucks.  There  was  no  shouting  or  singing  by  these  silent, 
grim,  determined  soldiers.  No  bands  played,  no  colors  waved, 
no  sound  save  the  thud  of  marching  feet  and  the  clank  of  moving 
wagons.    The  men  appeared  well  fed  and  clothed,  and  the  horses 


204       ONE  HUNDRED  PER  CENT  AMERICAN 

were  in  superb  condition.  We  found  this  true  along  the  whole 
battle  front  and  especially  among  the  British  troops.  There  is 
something  inspiring  about  great  masses  of  men;  something  that 
stirs  one's  blood  at  the  thought  of  the  power  of  a  mighty  army. 
All  the  way  from  Paris  we  had  met  and  overtaken  large  num- 
bers of  auto-trucks,  called  "lorries,"  which  go  back  and  forth 
carrying  ammunition  and  supplies.  We  passed  thousands  of 
British  and  French  troops  on  their  way  to  Italy  to  reinforce  the 
Italians  after  their  reverse.  As  we  approached  Soissons  we  ob- 
tained our  first  view  of  airplanes  operating  in  the  war  zone. 
Soaring  above  the  rolling  country,  like  great  eagles,  these  daring 
birdmen — the  cavalry  of  the  air — whose  fields  of  battle  are  the 
clouds,  darted  hither  and  yon  across  the  line,  scouting  for  the 
enemy.  For  miles  here  and  on  our  way  to  Rheims  we  passed 
along  camouflaged  roads,  protected  from  aircraft  observation  by 
great  screens  of  woven  grasses  and  artificial  hedges. 

As  we  neared  Rheims  I  happened  to  see  several  dark  puffs 
of  smoke  smudge  the  leaden  sky  over  the  lines.  Colonel  Parker, 
who  was  with  us,  said  that  they  were  shells  from  anti-aircraft 
guns.  While  we  were  looking,  one  of  the  shells  struck  home,  for 
the  great  black  enevelope  of  a  French  balloon  silhouetted  itself 
against  the  clouds.  Like  a  handkerchief  cast  to  the  winds,  the 
torn  bag  flattened  itself  out,  and  in  fantastic  curves  slowly 
sank  to  the  earth,  a  mass  of  flames.  Late  in  the  afternoon,  when 
the  lengthening  shadows  of  a  gray  November  twilight  were  cast- 
ing their  somber  hues  upon  the  battered  and  broken  walls,  we 
entered  Rheims — ill-fated,  battle-scarred  Rheims — the  center  of 
an  ancient  civilization  and  for  ages  the  sought- for  prize  of  mili- 
tary aggression.  What  memories  and  associations  of  the  past; 
what  pathos  and  sorrows  of  the  present  are  awakened  by  that 
name !  History,  religion,  art,  romance,  and  chivalry — the  epitome 
of  human  endeavors  and  aspirations — crowd  the  centuries  of  her 
existence.  Rheims  to-day  is  a  melancholy  ruin,  a  city  of  the 
dead,  abandoned  and  closed  to  the  outside  world.  Houses  de- 
molished, streets  torn  up  and  filled  with  debris,  crumbled  walls 
and  battered  pavements,  tell  the  story  of  the  bombardment  of 
Rheims. 

Surmounting  all,  a  pathetic  monument  to  the  wreckage  and 
frightfulness  of  war,  stands  the  shattered  cathedral.  For  eight 
hundred  years  this  masterpiece  of  architectural  splendor  has 
been  the  shrine  of  countless  thousands.  But  yesterday  the  pride 
of  France,  to-day  a  bleak  and  broken  relic  of  its  former  glory. 
Birds  wing  their  passage  through  the  empty  windows,  once  stud- 
ded by  the  noblest  product  of  the  glazier's  art;  gothic  arches 
and  chiseled  columns,  rich  with  the  tracings  of  a  master  hand,  lie 


THE  MORAL  ISSUES  OF  THE  WAR  205 

as  heaps  of  dirt  upon  the  pavement,  mixed  with  bits  of  glass 
and  fragments  of  holy  figures.  A  pile  of  debris  now  defiles  the 
altar  where  stood  Joan  of  Arc  when  her  king  was  crowned. 
Ah,  the  pity,  the  pathos,  and  the  wantonness  of  it  all ! 

Cardinal  Lucon,  gray-haired  and  benign,  to  whose  care  the 
sacred  edifice  and  its  service  have  long  been  intrusted,  ex- 
tended to  us  a  sad  welcome.  In  the  gathering  gloom  of  his  ruined 
church,  this  patriotic  and  devoted  prelate  who  has  remained 
steadfast  at  his  post,  came  forward  to  meet  us.  He  grasped  the 
hand  of  each,  and  in  a  few  simple  words  expressed  gratification 
at  America's  entrance  into  the  war,  "For,"  he  said,  "it  will  mean 
the  restoration  of  my  devasted  country."  A  total  of  three  hun- 
dred and  five  shells  have  struck  the  edifice  since  the  beginning 
of  the  war,  sixty-four  of  which  were  fired  within  the  last 
few  months,  and  the  ancient  church  is  yet  a  target  for  the 
artillery,  each  shell  taking  its  toll  of  carved  statue  and  molded 
arch. 

During  its  early  bombardment,  the  cathedral  was  used  as 
a  hospital,  Red  Cross  flags  flying  from  its  spire.  But  this  did 
not  save  it  from  destruction,  despite  the  fact  that  it  was  filled 
with  wounded  German  soldiers.  A  scaffolding  which  had  been 
erected  for  repair  work  was  fired  by  an  exploding  shell  and  the 
flames  spread  to  the  woodwork  above  the  main  entrance.  Soon 
the  interior  became  a  raging  furnace,  which  threatened  to  in- 
cinerate the  helpless  men  within.  The  old  cardinal  and  a  young 
priest  began  the  work  of  rescue.  By  this  time  a  great  crowd 
had  gathered  outside.  Suddenly  one  of  those  strange  and  un- 
accountable phases  of  mob  fury  seized  the  throng  made  frantic 
by  suffering,  the  killing  of  relatives  and  friends,  and  infuriated 
at  the  sight  of  their  beloved  church  in  flames.  The  mob  rushed  to 
the  entrance,  demanding  that  the  German  soldiers  lying  on  their 
cots  be  compelled  to  die  in  the  hell  created  by  their  comrades  in 
arms.  It  is  related  how  the  aged  cardinal  stepped  forward  and 
confronted  the  angry  crowd.  Placing  himself  between  the  mob 
and  its  intended  victims,  with  hands  outstretched  in  appeal,  he 
said  to  them,  "Very  well,  my  children;  but  you  must  kill  me 
first."  Silence  and  shame  fall  upon  the  frenzied  crowd;  mad- 
ness gave  place  to  reason,  revenge  to  sympathy.  With  a  mighty 
impulse,  as  their  hearts  were  moved  to  pity,  by  the  benevolence 
of  the  cardinal's  act,  they  sprang  forward  vying  with  one  an- 
other in  their  efforts  to  rescue  their  hated  enemies  in  distress. 
As  we  lingered  in  the  presence  of  these  doleful  scenes,  the  only 
sound  that  broke  the  stillness  of  the  deserted  streets  was  the  deep 
intonation  of  distant  guns,  booming  on  the  battle  front.  That, 
and  the  echo  of  one's  footfall  on  the  stones  and  the  throbbing  of 


206       ONE  HUNDRED  PER  CENT  AMERICAN 

one's  own  heart-beats  as  the  terrible  sacrifices  and  the  suffering 
of  it,  all  struck  home. 

Passing  through  the  country  around  Soissons  and  Rheims,  we 
noted  the  seeming  indifference  of  the  inhabitants  to  all  personal 
danger.  Old  men  and  women  were  working  their  farms  close 
up  to  the  firing  line.  Occasionally  a  shell  would  burst  overhead, 
but  they  kept  right  on  at  their  work,  oblivious  to  all  danger,  so 
accustomed  have  they  become  to  the  artillery.  On  our  way  to 
Verdun  we  passed  acre  after  acre  of  vineyards  which  have  made 
this  part  of  France  famous  for  its  wines.  For  miles  before  reach- 
ing the  historic  fortress  of  Verdun,  we  saw  grim  evidences  of  the 
titanic  struggle.  Houses  destroyed — they  are  always  the  object 
of  attack — bridges  wrecked,  trees  felled,  and  everywhere  soldiers, 
supply  trains,  and  motor  kitchens.  The  very  air  was  laden  with 
depression — a  silence  of  dejection  reigned  over  all  as  if  the  spirits 
of  those  in  the  ranks  were  stilled  by  the  memory  of  those  who 
had  made  the  supreme  sacrifice. 

One  of  the  peculiar  sensations  of  the  battle  front  is  the  feel- 
ing of  loneliness.  Back  of  the  lines  one  sees  soldiers  by  the 
thousands,  but  close  to  the  firing  line  one  sees  or  hears  none. 
Except  for  the  roaring  of  the  guns  and  the  whining  of  the  shells, 
one  might  imagine  one's  self  in  a  desert  land.  When  standing 
on  the  hills  at  Verdun,  knowing  that  there  were  thousands  of 
soldiers  near  by,  we  saw  not  one  of  that  vast  army.  The 
men  were  concealed  in  dugouts,  trenches  and  underground  gal- 
leries. Without  the  blare  of  trumpets  or  the  waving  of  ban- 
ners, they  silently  awaited  the  command  to  "Carry  on !"  This 
war  is  devoid  of  all  the  glamour,  glitter  and  romance — yes,  of 
all  the  chivalry,  too — which  in  the  past  has  been  associated  with 
great  military  movements.  No  flags  float  above  the  clouds  of 
smoke  and  mist,  inspiring  men's  hearts  with  love  of  country; 
no  martial  music  stirs  their  drooping  spirits;  no  strains  of  na- 
tional anthems  thrill  their  souls  and  steel  their  courage  for  the 
coming  charge.  Everywhere  it  was  the  same.  Once  only  in  that 
long  journey  along  the  line,  did  I  hear  music,  and  then  it  was  a 
single  fife  and  drum  corps  marching  with  its  company  to  a  re- 
serve camp,  miles  behind  the  trenches. 

We  reached  Verdun  at  noon  and  dined  with  the  commanding 
general  in  a  vaulted  mess  hall,  deep  in  the  recesses  of  this  ancient 
fortress.  Miles  upon  miles  of  galleries  have  been  constructed 
in  the  fort,  forty  and  even  sixty  feet  below  the  surface.  As  we 
ate  our  war  lunch  the  plates  and  glasses  on  the  table  trembled 
when  the  French  guns  answered  the  German  artillery,  for  the 
bombardment  still  goes  on.  Verdun  stands  at  the  apex  of  a  great 
triangle  where  the  hills  crowd  down  to  a  narrow  pass.    It  is  like 


THE  MORAL  ISSUES  OF  THE  WAR  207 

the  prow  of  a  great  snow  plow,  and  here  the  French,  hundreds 
of  years  ago,  built  this  great  fortification  to  guard  their  eastern 
frontier.  Verdun,  the  rock  of  destiny,  against  whose  slopes  were 
hurled  the  mightiest  assaults  in  the  history  of  man!  Verdun, 
whose  hills  burst  asunder  beneath  the  shock  of  the  heaviest  can- 
nonading that  the  world  has  known !  Think  often  of  this  heroic 
spot,  for  it  was  here  that  civilization  paused  before  that  impact, 
then  tottered  and  fell  as  the  Prussian  hosts  swept  onward;  then 
rose  again  as  the  dauntless  soldiers  of  France  responded  to  that 
watchword  of  liberty,  "They  shall  not  pass !"  and  rolled  back  again 
and  yet  again  the  onslaught  of  the  Huns.  For  ages  that  name  will 
be  the  brightest  page  in  the  history  of  France,  and  you,  as  long 
as  you  live,  will  know  of  the  glories  ot  Verdun. 

The  great  battle  of  a  year  ago  took  place  on  the  hills  which 
encompass  the  city.  We  went  out  to  Fort  Souville,  five  miles 
from  the  citadel.  The  hill  on  which  it  stands  has  been  blasted 
almost  to  its  base.  Everywhere  are  trenches,  wire  entanglements, 
camp  equipment,  broken  gun  carriages,  shells,  guns,  hand  gre- 
nades and  pieces  of  shell.  Here  is  the  most  stupendous,  the 
most  terrible  example  of  the  waste  and  destruction  of  war 
imaginable.  I  have  seen  the  ruins  of  Port  Arthur  in  Man- 
churia, and  have  been  to  the  top  of  303  Meter  Hill,  where  the 
Russians  and  Japanese  fought  for  supremacy;  but  what  I  saw 
at  Verdun  was  ten  times  more  awful  than  the  ruins  of  Port 
Arthur.  The  whole  hill  has  literally  been  blown  to  pieces  and  is 
a  desolation  of  shell  holes  and  craters,  filled  with  cartridges,  un- 
exploded  bombs  and  pieces  of  rifles.  The  ghastly  wastage  is  ap- 
palling. When  the  Germans  made  that  terrible  attack  they  swept 
on  over  these  hills  and  came  up  the  crests,  line  after  line,  like 
waves  of  the  sea.  Where  once  a  forest  had  stood,  now  noth- 
ing but  blackened  stumps  remain.  Fifty  yards  from  where  we 
were  on  the  summit,  was  a  shattered  tree  trunk,  torn  and  blasted, 
which  marks  the  highwater  mark  of  the  German  advance.  One 
remarkable  occurrence  of  that  onrush  was  related  to  us.  The  in- 
fantry attack  had  been  preceded  by  a  heavy  artillery  fire,  which 
buried  in  the  ground  a  French  machine  gun  and  its  crew,  over 
which  swept  the  first  line  of  Germans.  These  Frenchmen  dug 
themselves  out  of  the  debris,  set  up  their  machine  gun,  and  be- 
gan firing  at  the  Germans  from  the  rear.  Caught  between  two 
lines  of  fire,  the  advancing  Germans,  not  knowing  the  strength 
of  the  attack,  became  panic-stricken  and  fell  backward.  The 
few  who  managed  to  escape  were  glad  to  seek  refuge  behind  their 
own  lines.  All  of  the  men  behind  this  machine  gun  were  killed, 
but  they  saved  the  day  for  France.  Eight  hundred  thousand 
men  laid  down  their  lives  at  Verdun — five  hundred  thousand 


£08       ONE  HUNDRED  PER  CENT  AMERICAN 

Germans  and  three  hundred  thousand  Frenchmen.  We  saw 
cemeto  titaining  thirty-five  thousand  graves.    1  asked  where 

the  res:  were  buried  and  the  commander  replied.  "Here  they 
lie  beneath  your  very  tee:,  ground  back  into  the  elements."  Five 
men  were  killed  tor  every  nine  square  feet  of  earth  on  this 
bloodsoaked  lull!  The  battle  held  extended  over  about  three 
and  a  half  square  miles:  every  hill  and  every  valley  tells  its 
story  of  tragedy  and  death.  At  the  present  time  the  firing  line 
is  several  miles  distant,  but  the  French  artillery  all  around  us 
were  tiring  at  the  German  trenches  and  the  German  guns  would 
respond.  Every  few  minutes  we  heard  the  sharp  report  of  a 
Boche  gun  as  a  shell  was  hurled  toward  us.  There  was  a  con- 
stant roar  of  artillery,  our  conversation  at  times  being  inter- 
rupted by  the  din.  No  greater  glory  will  ever  come  to  France 
than  the  victory  of  Verdun :  no  greater  honor  will  ever  come  to 
a  Frenchman  than  for  him  to  be  able  to  say,  "I.  too.  fought  at 
Verdun."  To-day  with  all  its  devastation  and  ruin,  with  all 
the  sacrifices  of  life,  with  all  the  sorrow  it  represents.  Verdun 
stands  forth  as  the  greatest  monument  to  courage,  bravery  and 
determination,  of  which  the  world  knows.  Let  us  hope,  too.  that 
i:  is  the  sepulcher  for  the  hopes  and  ambitions  of  Prussian  mili- 
tary autocracy. 

Now  I  am  going  to  take  you  for  a  moment  to  the  American 
Headquarters,  back  of  the  lines,  where  we  were  received  by 
General  Pershing:  and  his  staff.  Let  me  say  of  General  Persh- 
ing, that  in  my  opinion,  he  is  a  man  not  only  of  courage,  experi- 
ence and  ability,  but  that  he  is  also  an  officer  possessing  the  quali- 
fications to  lead  our  troops  to  victory.  We  were  taken  through 
the  headquarters,  where  Major  Robert  Bacon,  by  the  way,  is  in 
charge.     I  ng  was  shown  us  ;  their  plans  for  future  cam- 

paigns ;  their  means  of  obtaining  information  ;  their  method  of 
transportation  ; — every  detail  was  laid  before  us.  We  then  went 
out  to  where  the  soldiers  themselves  were  quartered.  I  talked  to 
the  men,  ate  with  them  and  mingled  with  them.  In  some  cases 
the  equipment  was  not  as  complete  as  it  should  have  been,  per- 
haps their  quarters  were  not  as  comfortable  as  we  would  like  to 
have  them ;  I  saw  men  sleeping  in  barns  and  in  improvised 
shelters,  but  they  were  not  grumbling.  They  knew  the  difficul- 
ties of  getting  supplies  across  a  submarine-infested  ocean.  They 
knew  that  when  a  ship  was  sunk,  the  cargo  could  not  be  re- 
placed over  night ;  but  they  were  not  complaining.  They  said. 
"Oh,  yes,  we  know  that  it  is  going  to  take  time  to  get  supplies 
over  here.  We  know  that  our  country  has  built  a  great  machine 
and  like  all  machines,  friction  is  bound  to  develop  in  some  of  the 
bearings."     I  said  they  had  no  complaint.     They  did  have  one, 


THE  MORAL  ISSUES  OF  THE  WAR  209 

and  that  was  at  the  delay  in  getting  to  the  front.  Every  one  I 
talked  with  said,  "For  God's  sake,  give  us  a  chance  to  fight 
before  the  war  is  over." 

Let  me  digress  a  moment  from  my  narrative  and  speak  of 
our  work  in  Congress.  I  am  a  Republican,  but  party  lines  no 
longer  exist  in  the  Congress  of  the  United  States.  Republicans 
of  the  House  and  Senate  have  voted  for  all  the  measures  nec- 
essary to  carry  on  this  war  and  they  will  continue  to  vote  for 
them  without  political  motives.  We  have  submerged  partisanship 
to  the  single  purpose  of  winning  the  conflict  to  which  America  is 
committed  in  the  shortest  possible  time,  and  with  the  least  sacri- 
fice of  life.  There  is  no  division  on  political  lines  in  Congress, 
for  we  are  all  standing  squarely  behind  the  Commander-in-Chief 
of  our  Army  and  Navy. 

This  war  is  calling  forth  the  patriotism,  the  genius,  and  the 
supreme  power  of  a  mighty  people.  We  are  proving  to  the 
world  that  democracy,  which  has  opened  the  floodgates  to  op- 
portunity, can  rise  to  the  highest  plane  of  national  unity.  It  is 
a  demonstration  of  democracy  in  its  fullest,  truest  expression, 
calling  upon  manhood  without  distinction  and  upon  wealth  with- 
out exception. 

In  referring  to  our  boys,  let  me  quote  from  General  Odium, 
of  the  Eleventh  Infantry,  Fourth  Canadian  Division,  C.  E.  F. : 

"We  have  recently  had  quite  a  number  of  American  officers 
attached  to  us.  They  are  splendid  fellows.  The  Canadians  have 
taken  to  them  at  once.  We  have  a  great  deal  of  faith  in  them, 
and  we  wish  we  were  working  together.  The  Americans  are 
making  a  splendid  impression  over  here." 

That  night  we  slept  at  Chalons  and  in  the  morning  proceeded 
to  Amiens,  in  northern  France,  where  we  were  met  by  British 
officials,  who  escorted  us  to  a  chateau  used  for  the  entertainment 
of  visitors.  On  the  way  to  Amiens  we  drove  along  the  Valley  of 
the  Marne,  for  several  miles.  After  crossing  the  Marne,  we 
passed  numbers  of  villages  partly  destroyed  by  shell  and  bomb 
fire.  Crossing  the  Aisne  River,  we  came  upon  a  part  of  the  bat- 
tle field  of  the  Aisne,  where  we  saw  wire  entanglements  and  old 
trenches  and  piles  of  worn-out  army  paraphernalia.  For  miles 
these  plains  are  marked  by  the  devastation  of  war.  Innumerable 
dugouts  line  the  road  on  either  side,  just  as  they  were  when  they 
were  abandoned.  Two  miles  north  of  the  river  we  passed  a  vil- 
lage blown  to  atoms,  with  not  a  house  standing;  nothing  but 
foundations,  with  broken  walls  a  few  feet  high.  I  saw  not  a  liv- 
ing thing  in  that  city  of  once  happy  homes.    Yes ;  I  did  see  one 


210       ONE  HUNDRED  PER  CENT  AMERICAN 

living  thing.  It  was  a  raven  on  the  stump  of  a  tree,  the  only  in- 
habitant of  this  city  that  had  been  destroyed  by  German  artillery. 

We  lunched  at  Noyon,  which,  owing  to  the  rapidity  of  the 
evacuation  of  the  Germans,  has  been  but  little  damaged.  On 
leaving  Noyon  we  entered  the  battle  field  of  the  Somme,  where, 
in  the  late  summer  of  191 6,  it  is  said  the  English  suffered  320,000 
casualties  and  the  Germans  500,000.  We  passed  mile  after  mile 
of  complete  devastation,  where  hardly  a  house  remains.  A  cold, 
drizzling  rain  was  falling,  which  added  to  the  depressing  effect  of 
the  frightfulness  that  stretched  away  in  every  direction.  Just 
as  night  fell  we  reached  a  spot  where  once  stood  the  city  of 
Chaulnes,  with  a  population  of  ten  thousand,  now  a  mass  of 
bricks,  without  even  the  semblance  of  a  house  standing.  We 
stood  on  piles  of  debris  at  what  was  once  the  center  of  the  city; 
the  sight  in  that  dead  silence  and  in  the  gathering  darkness  was 
of  the  ravages  of  the  demon  of  destruction,  in  his  full  power 
of  annihilation.  Not  a  sound  save  the  sighing  of  the  winds  and 
the  falling  of  the  rain,  where  but  a  few  months  ago  the 
laughter  of  children  rang  out;  not  a  light  piercing  the  night, 
where  only  a  little  while  age  the  lamp  on  the  table,  in  even  the 
humblest  home,  welcomed  those  children  to  the  family  fireside. 
Words  fail  to  describe  the  anguish  and  the  sorrow  of  it  all.  In 
one  corner  of  a  wall  we  saw  three  mounds  marked  by  the  tri- 
colors of  the  Republic.  They  are  the  sentinels  of  the  tomb  watch- 
ing over  the  city  of  the  dead,  where  the  solitude  is  broken  only 
by  the  wind,  moaning  as  it  were,  a  requiem  over  the  grave- 
yard of  homes  and  happiness;  every  gust  whispering  of  suf- 
fering, sadness  and  sacrifice. 

You  will  pardon  me  if  I  wander  in  my  address.  You  know 
this  is  not  a  speech,  it  is  just  a  simple  talk.  I  know  that  the 
question  has  often  been  asked,  "Why  can't  the  advance  on  the 
Western  line  be  speeded  up  ?"  "Why  not  push  on  faster  toward 
the  Rhine?"  We  all  want  to  see,  as  Doctor  Williams  has  just 
said,  "more  troops  sent  over  to  France";  but  I  do  not  believe  at 
the  present  time,  until  we  have  more  ships,  that  it  is  a  wise 
thing  to  do.  You  may  ask  "Why  not  ?"  I  will  tell  you.  Unless 
you  are  certain  of  the  tonnage  on  the  ocean  to  carry  the  food 
supplies,  the  medical  supplies,  and  to  transport  reinforcements 
to  those  men  at  the  front,  you  are  going  to  endanger  their  lives 
and  handicap  the  Allies.  The  whole  thing  has  to  be  proportioned 
— no  more  men  than  you  have  ships  to  carry  the  supplies  to. 
The  very  moment  that  our  Shipping  Board  increases  our  ton- 
nage, the  very  moment  that  we  get  more  ships,  then  we  will  send 
more  troops;  but  until  that  is  done,  it  will,  in  my  judgment,  be 
unwise  to  overload  the  Allies.     I  am  not  expressing  my  own 


THE  MORAL  ISSUES  OF  THE  WAR  211 

opinion,  for  I  am  not  a  military  man,  but  I  am  giving  you  this 
suggestion  which  comes  from  those  who  know.  The  problem 
has  been  worked  out  and  figures  tabulated,  showing  how  many 
tons  it  will  take  per  man,  and  how  many  ships  are  available  with 
the  percentage  of  monthly  sinkings.  Don't  let  us  be  in  too  much 
of  a  hurry,  so  that  we  may  have  our  boys  killed  because  of  lack 
of  reinforcement,  or  suffer  because  we  cannot  get  supplies  to 
them.  We  are  going  to  do  it ;  we  are  going  to  have  the  ships ; 
and  we  are  going  to  have  the  men  there ;  but  be  patient  and  give 
us  a  chance  to  provide  for  them. 

From  the  chateau  we  visited  Calais,  the  great  distributing 
point  for  a  part  of  the  British  Army.  Here  is  where  the  sup- 
plies are  received  and  sent  forward — ammunition,  food  and 
everything  that  is  required  at  the  front,  from  pins  to  projectiles. 
Many  Chinamen  are  employed  in  these  great  storehouses  loading 
and  unloading  ships  and  trains.  They  told  us  a  very  interest- 
ing story  about  these  Chinamen,  who,  by  the  way,  came  from 
northern  China.  This  town  is  frequently  bombarded  from  the 
air.  After  these  Chinamen  had  been  here  a  short  time  they  be- 
came panic-stricken  and  went  to  the  boss  and  told  him,  "We 
came  contract  to  work,  no  contract  bomb."  I  do  not  know  how 
they  settled  the  strike,  but  the  Chinamen  remained.  One  day, 
when  a  very  heavy  bombardment  was  going  on,  an  officer  hap- 
pened to  look  up  at  the  trees  and  was  amazed  to  find  them  full 
of  Chinamen  who  had  conceived  the  idea  that  it  was  the  safest 
place  to  be.  To  assist  them  in  their  scramble  to  the  branches,  the 
Chinamen  had  left  their  shoes  behind  at  the  base  of  the  trees. 
As  the  officer  approached  he  noticed  one  Chinaman  coming  to 
the  ground  and  he  said  to  him,  "What  is  the  matter;  are  you 
coming  down  for  your  shoes?"  "No,"  said  the  Chinaman,  "me 
no  wantee  shoes,  me  wantee  tallee  tree." 

At  Calais  are  great  reconstruction  works  where  everything 
from  the  battle  fields  that  can  be  of  service  is  made  over  and 
sent  back  to  the  lines.  Immediately  after  a  battle  the  first  con- 
sideration is  the  care  of  the  wounded  and  then  of  the  dead.  Af- 
ter this  the  salvage  corps  depending,  of  course,  upon  conditions, 
come  with  their  lorries  and  gather  up  everything  that  is  of 
value — helmets,  rifles,  gas  masks,  bicycles,  wagons,  artillery  and 
shoes.  I  was  much  impressed  by  one  shop  employing  hundreds 
of  persons,  where  they  reconstruct  twenty-five  thousand  pairs  of 
shoes  a  week;  they  are  disinfected,  patched,  oiled  and  then 
turned  over  as  good  as  new,  and  strange  enough,  the  soldiers  pre- 
fer these  second-hand  shoes  to  new  ones.  If  some  one  should 
ask  me  as  to  one  of  the  many  things  that  impressed  me  from  a 
business  man's  standpoint,  I  would  say  that  it  was  the  system 


212   ONE  HUNDRED  PER  CENT  AMERICAN 

with  which  this  war  is  being  conducted,  not  only  from  a  military 
standpoint  but  from  an  industrial  one.  It  is  organized  efficiency 
on  a  grand  scale,  where  nations,  not  armies,  are  making  a  busi- 
ness of  warfare.  Great  Britain,  France  and  Italy  realize  they  are 
not  fighting  a  war  as  wars  have  been  fought  in  the  past.  To-day 
it  means  mobilization  of  all  man  power  and  the  utilization  of  all 
resources.  Sacrifice  and  economy  are  synonymous  terms  in  this 
great  struggle. 

One  of  the  most  impressive  facts  along  the  battle  fronts 
as  well  as  behind  the  lines,  is  the  order  which  prevails  every- 
where and  in  everything.  There  is  neither  confusion  nor  hurry. 
Every  man  has  his  appointed  task  to  do  and  he  does  it  me- 
thodically. Nothing  is  left  to  chance,  for  every  action  of  the 
soldier,  every  movement  of  the  guns,  or  supply  trains,  every  ac- 
tion on  the  land  or  in  the  air,  goes  forward  according  to  a  regu- 
lar, closely  dovetailed  plan.  When  a  barrage  is  lifted  and  the 
charge  takes  place,  it  is  timed  to  the  second,  the  watches  of  the 
commanding  officers  being  regulated  to  the  exact  time. 

The  next  morning  we  drove  to  Arras,  which  has  been  badly 
damaged  by  shell  fire.  The  great  cathedral  is  a  mass  of  ruins, 
only  one  arch  remaining  over  the  lofty  aisle.  Wherever  there 
had  been  a  bronze  tablet  or  statue  in  any  church  or  upon  any 
monument,  they  have  been  chiseled  off  by  the  Germans  for  the 
manufacture  of  cartridges  and  fuses.  Many  troops  are  stationed 
in  Arras,  it  being  close  to  the  firing  line.  From  here  we  went 
to  the  American  engineers'  camp,  some  distance  away.  There  we 
met  the  boys  from  home,  many  of  them  from  the  city  of  New 
York,  and  it  was  a  keen  pleasure  for  us  to  meet  them,  and,  I 
feel,  for  them  to  have  met  us.  They  were  comfortably  housed 
in  galvanized  roofed  barracks,  ceiled  with  wood  and  warmed 
with  stoves.  They  were  happy  in  their  condition  and  satisfied 
with  their  equipment  and  food.  These  engineers  were  laying 
railroads,  digging  ditches  and  building  bridges,  preparing  for  the 
great  forward  move  which  will  mean  victory  to  our  arms.  We 
went  from  here  to  Vimy  Ridge,  passing  on  the  way  innumerable 
dugouts  and  abandoned  barracks.  I  was  much  amused  by  many 
of  the  signs  in  these  barracks,  for  the  British  and  Canadians  had 
marked  the  crude  streets  with  names  from  home.  One  street 
was  called  "Piccadilly,"  another  the  "Strand,"  while  yet  another 
was  "Manitoba  Boulevard."  One  sign  in  particular  caught  my 
attention.  It  read,  "To  Petrograd,"  with  a  finger  pointing  to 
that  far-off  capital. 

We  saw  troops  going  into  the  lines  and  troops  returning  from 
the  trenches,  the  latter  very  grimy  and  dirty;  but  they  were 
swinging  along  the  roads  in  that   happy-go-lucky  way,   which 


THE  MORAL  ISSUES  OF  THE  WAR  213 

tells  that  they  are  in  this  fight  to  the  finish.  We  climbed  up 
Vimy  Ridge,  passing  by  a  great  gun  which  had  taken  part  in 
the  bombardment  only  the  day  before.  From  the  summit  of 
Vimy  Ridge  we  obtained  a  splendid  view  of  Lens,  and  could  see 
the  German  lines  in  the  distance.  The  hill  was  a  mass  of  shell- 
holes,  filled,  as  at  Verdun,  with  the  relics  of  war.  In  one  hole 
I  saw  the  skeleton  of  a  poor  soldier  whose  life  had  been  given 
in  the  cause  for  which  he  fought.  We  could  see  the  flash  of 
the  German  guns,  hear  the  shriek  of  the  shells,  and  then  would 
come  to  us  the  roar  of  the  explosion.  We  could  see  where  the 
shells  struck,  for  great  masses  of  brick  and  dust  would  be 
thrown  into  the  air  as  the  projectiles  exploded.  The  Allies'  guns 
would  respond,  and  flash  after  flash,  followed  by  the  roar,  came 
to  us  as  we  stood  there  watching  this  scene  of  actual  warfare. 
Above  us,  in  the  clear  sky,  many  airships  circled  about,  taking 
observations  and  noting  the  effect  of  the  artillery  fire.  Vimy 
Ridge  will  forever  stand  on  the  roll  of  honor  of  Canada's  fight 
for  home  and  freedom.  Here  the  blood  of  the  Dominion  soldiers 
was  given  like  water  when  these  brave  boys  from  across  the 
border  marched  up  these  heights  and  drove  back  the  Germans. 
Vimy  Ridge  will  stir  the  blood  of  Canadians  for  generations 
to  come,  for  it  represents  the  heroism  and  courage  and  the 
supreme  sacrifice  of  Canadian  manhood  in  the  great  struggle  to 
"make  the  world  safe  for  democracy." 

The  next  day  we  went  to  Albert,  which  has  been  only  partly 
destroyed.  The  great  modern  cathedral,  however,  is  a  mass  of 
ruins.  This  famous  church  of  Notre  Dame  de  Bebrieres  is 
crowned  with  a  statue  of  the  Virgin,  which  has  bent  forward  and 
is  now  hanging  from  the  campanile  with  the  face  of  the  Madonna 
gazing  on  the  ground.  The  French  have  the  belief  that  the 
statue  will  not  fall  until  the  war  ends  in  their  triumph.  From 
there  we  went  to  Fricourt,  or  at  least  to  what  had  been  that  city, 
for  it  exists  no  longer. 

The  whole  country  shows  the  effect  of  the  battles  that  have 
been  fought  here.  For  miles  and  miles  it  is  nothing  but  desola- 
tion, with  the  ruins  of  houses,  broken  trees,  and  implements  of 
agriculture  standing  out  in  the  weather,  going  to  decay.  In 
many  places  in  this  valley  of  the  Somme,  the  land  has  been 
so  torn  up,  that  it  is  not  possible  to  raise  enough  to  support  a 
single  family.  It  must  all  be  leveled  and  cleared  of  the  debris 
before  people  can  live  here  again.  We  went  over  many  parts 
of  this  battle  field,  picking  up  pieces  of  shell,  grenades  and  belts. 
We  went  down  into  many  of  the  dugouts,  great  rooms  exca- 
vated in  the  chalky  earth,  thirty  or  forty  feet  below  the  surface. 
Everything  is  just  as  it  was  when  the  battle  swept  over  the  field, 


214   ONE  HUNDRED  PER  CENT  AMERICAN 

save  for  the  rescue  work  of  the  hospital  staff  and  the  activities 
of  the  salvage  corps. 

At  Peronne  we  visited  the  citadel  and  saw  the  city  a  com- 
plete mass  of  ruins,  where  the  devastation  had  been  planned  and 
consummated  by  the  German  Army.  Some  shelling,  as  at  Al- 
bert, had  been  done  by  the  attacking  Allies,  but  the  bulk  of  the 
destruction  had  been  wrought  by  the  Germans  when  they  evacu- 
ated the  place.  The  favorite  way  of  demolishing  a  house  was 
to  blow  out  the  front  wall,  which  would  let  in  the  elements  and 
eventually  cause  the  whole  building  to  collapse.  Street  after 
street  presented  the  terrible  spectacle  of  frontless  houses,  and 
here  in  the  deserted  rooms  we  saw  beds,  bureaus,  and  chairs,  with 
the  carpets  still  on  the  floors  and  pictures  on  the  walls.  I 
went  into  many  of  these  former  homes  and  saw  hanging  on  the 
hooks  clothing  and  hats,  just  as  they  were  left  when  the  poor 
people  were  driven  out.  In  one  house  I  saw  lying  on  a  table 
a  child's  tin  horse,  dented  and  marred  by  the  little  infant  who 
had  played  with  it.    Where  is  that  little  tot  to-day  ? 

On  our  way  back  to  Amiens,  we  stopped  at  the  Butte  de 
Warlencourt,  which  the  French  Government  has  reserved  as 
a  national  monument.  It  is  a  low  salient,  only  about  forty-five 
feet  high,  and  here  was  witnessed  some  of  the  most  terrific  fight- 
ing of  all.  Nothing  has  been  touched  on  this  blood-soaked  hill. 
Shells  and  rifles  lie  about  just  as  they  fell,  and  dead  men,  too; 
a  simple  cross  crowned  with  a  helmet  or  twisted  rifle  marks  the 
spot  where  a  nameless  hero,  a  lost  but  not  forgotten  son  or 
brother,  sleeps  the  eternal  sleep.  The  view  from  the  top  is 
awesome.  Ruins  everywhere  as  far  as  the  eye  can  see,  an  un- 
broken stretch  of  desolation,  destruction,  chaos,  with  the  land  so 
cut  up  that  one  can  walk  over  it  only  with  the  greatest  dif- 
ficulty. Shell  holes  and  craters,  craters  and  shell  holes,  crowd  one 
upon  the  other  in  this  inferno  of  man's  making.  Every  foot  of 
land  scarred  with  pits  like  pockmarks,  as  if  nature  herself,  under 
the  carnage  wrought  on  her  bosom,  had  sickened  and  died  of 
this  dread  disease.  Near  by  were  several  abandoned  tanks,  those 
great  caterpillars  which  have  been  so  effective  in  many  of  the 
engagements.  We  saw  one  of  them  that  had  been  destroyed 
by  an  explosion,  which  had  burned  the  interior  and  of  course 
killed  the  crew.  In  front  of  it  were  the  graves  of  the  men  who 
had  manned  it.  There  they  lie  by  that  great  engine  of  war,  with 
the  machine  they  operated  standing  as  their  monument.  Farther 
on  was  a  great  crater,  about  thirty  feet  deep  and  two  hundred 
feet  in  diameter,  the  result  of  the  industrious  work  of  the  British 
sapper.  Above  this  hole  at  one  time  stood  some  German  bar- 
racks, but  when  the  explosion  took  place  soldiers,  wagons  and 


THE  MORAL  ISSUES  OF  THE  WAR  215 

mules  were  thrown  into  the  air,  lost  forever  to  the  German 
cause.  Men  are  not  only  killed  in  these  mine  explosions,  but 
their  bodies  are  dismembered — bleeding  fragments  of  men  and 
animals,  equipment  and  trench  paraphernalia  mingle  in  a  grue- 
some heap.  As  an  officer  who  had  seen  the  explosion,  said  to 
me,  "Some  of  those  Germans  haven't  come  down  yet." 

Even  at  the  risk  of  tiring  my  audience  with  a  narrative  which 
I  feel  is  already  too  extended,  I  cannot  omit  mentioning  the 
noble  work  being  done  by  the  Red  Cross,  the  Young  Men's 
Christian  Association,  the  Knights  of  Columbus  and  other 
kindred  organizations.  This  war,  which  is  a  battle  of  nations, 
fighting  not  alone  on  the  firing  line,  but  throughout  their  length 
and  breadth,  calls  to  humanity  for  help  and  the  Red  Cross  has 
answered  generously,  ably  and  fully.  Its  workers  minister  to 
the  sick  and  wounded,  reconstruct  villages,  purge  towns  of 
disease,  supply  farm  implements  and  seeds,  and  carry  on  re- 
lief wherever  it  is  needed.  It  has  established  canteens  and  bath- 
houses on  the  firing  line,  supplied  milk  to  babies  and  food  and 
clothing  to  the  old  and  feeble.  In  the  operating  rooms,  in 
tuberculosis  wards,  in  tenements,  in  devastated  villages,  in 
stricken  homes,  it  has  made  France,  Belgium,  and  Italy  know 
that  America  from  across  the  seas  is  at  their  side  and  will  be 
with  them  till  the  end.  In  addition,  and  primary  to  the  prac- 
tical relief  to  the  military  and  civilian  population  of  our  allies,  the 
Red  Cross  stands  ready  to  care  for  our  own  soldiers  and  sailors 
on  duty,  wherever  and  whenever  that  care  may  be  needed.  It  is 
cooperating  with  the  Army  and  Navy  for  the  protection  of  the 
health  and  welfare  of  soldiers  in  camps  and  cantonments  and 
has  established  agencies  for  the  care  of  dependent  familes  of 
men  in  the  naval  and  military  service. 

Closely  allied  to  the  Red  Cross  are  the  Young  Men's  Christian 
Association  and  Knights  of  Columbus  organizations.  They  are 
the  foster  mothers  to  these  faraway  boys  of  ours,  supplying  the 
home  influences  to  the  men  in  uniform,  giving  to  our  valiant 
fighters  a  spark  of  spiritual  life,  cheering  them  in  the  perform- 
ance of  their  duty,  comforting  them  in  their  loneliness  and 
stimulating  their  mental  and  social  instinct  under  proper  guid- 
ance. It  is  impossible  to  more  than  touch  upon  the  varied  ac- 
tivities of  these  splendid  institutions,  the  hotels  and  restaurants 
maintained  for  soldiers  arriving  or  on  leave  of  absence,  the  huts 
with  dining  rooms,  sleeping  accommodations  and  reading  rooms 
supplied  with  American  papers  and  magazines  where  men  can  read 
and  write  to  their  families  at  home,  the  portable  lunch-counters 
awaiting  incoming  trains,  the  rest  stations  and  bath-houses  near 
the  front,  refreshment  booths,  the  canteens  which  supply  wants, 


216       ONE  HUNDRED  PER  CENT  AMERICAN 

the  entertainments  and  moving-picture  shows,  the  circulating  li- 
braries, concerts,  lecture-courses,  religious  and  educational  classes, 
sports  and  sight-seeing  trips,  and  the  ever-present  offer  of  friend- 
ship, sympathy  and  assistance  to  all  in  distress  or  perplexity. 

On  our  return  to  Paris  we  were  given  receptions  by  the  Presi- 
dent of  the  French  Republic  and  by  the  Speaker  of  the  Cham- 
ber of  Deputies,  as  well  as  by  the  Premier.  Nothing  was  left 
undone  to  make  our  visit  both  instructive  and  enjoyable.  From 
Paris  we  went  to  Belgium — desolate,  almost  annihilated  Belgium. 
To-day  Belgium  is  only  twenty-six  miles  long  and  six  miles  wide. 
It  is  not  as  large  as  my  own  Nassau  County,  but  there  in  that 
little  remnant  of  a  nation  resides  Albert,  the  heroic  King  of  Bel- 
gium, who  will  not  leave  his  native  soil.  It  was  on  his  birthday 
that  we  arrived  in  Belgium,  and  he  invited  us  to  come  to  his 
simple  house.  We  were  dressed  in  our  trench  clothes.  I  had  on 
a  pair  of  blue  overalls,  heavy  tan  shoes,  an  old  flannel  shirt  and 
a  sweater;  and  I  assure  you  it  was  hardly  court  attire  for  a 
reception.  But  the  King  was  glad  to  see  us,  because  he  knew  we 
came  as  sympathizing  friends  and  that  we  were  representing  the 
power,  the  prestige  and  the  purposes  of  the  great  Republic  of  the 
West,  with  its  hundred  and  ten  millions  of  free  and  determined 
people.  That  great  democrat,  King  Albert,  six  feet  six  inches, 
stood  in  his  home  and  welcomed  us  in  a  most  democratic  manner. 
He  said,  "We  are  going  to  continue  to  fight  until  every  Belgian 
is  killed  and  Belgium  is  no  more."  I  asked  him  what  message  I 
could  take  back  with  me  to  America.  He  laid  his  hand  on  my 
shoulder  and  said,  "Take  this  message  to  your  people :  Tell  them 
that  without  their  generous  aid  my  people  would  have  starved  to 
death,  and  from  the  bottom  of  my  heart  I  thank  them."  When 
we  left  the  headquarters  of  the  King  it  was  about  six  o'clock  in 
the  evening,  and  as  we  came  out  into  the  darkness,  the  sky  to  the 
northeast  was  bespangled  by  the  flash  of  guns  on  the  firing  line 
and  there  was  an  incessant  roar  of  cannonading  which  shook  the 
ground  on  which  we  stood. 

We  went  to  our  hotel  but  a  few  miles  from  the  line  and 
at  two-thirty  a.  m.,  my  room  being  on  the  side  of  the  hotel  fac- 
ing the  line,  I  was  awakened  by  the  roar  of  a  terrific  bom- 
bardment. It  kept  up  for  forty-five  minutes  as  the  big  guns  along 
the  battle  front  saluted  each  other  with  deadly  shells.  We  had 
breakfast  at  four-thirty  and  with  darkness  still  about  us  set  out 
for  the  trenches.  We  arrived  about  daybreak  at  the  point  where 
we  were  to  enter  the  communicating  trench  which  led  to  the 
front  line  on  the  Dixmude  sector.  We  found  that  the  bombard- 
ment of  the  morning  had  destroyed  many  parts  of  these  trenches. 
There  were  great  holes  in  the  road,  and  a  few  dead  horses  were 


THE  MORAL  ISSUES  OF  THE  WAR  217 

lying  about.  We  saw,  too,  soldiers  who  had  been  killed  within 
an  hour  being  carried  back  to  the  cemetery.  We  were  all  pro- 
vided with  gas  masks  and  steel  helmets  in  case  of  an  attack ;  for 
we  were  going  to  the  frontier  of  "No  man's  land."  The  fields 
we  passed  were  desolate,  ground  torn  up,  fences  down,  trees 
broken  and  shattered,  for  the  country  surrounding  this  section 
of  the  line  has  been  for  months  in  the  war  zone.  Every  house 
had  long  since  been  pounded  into  fragments,  the  only  habita- 
tions being  the  rude,  improvised  shelters  erected  by  artillery- 
men from  the  debris  that  lay  scattered  about. 

Just  as  we  entered  the  communicating  trench  two  gray  Ger- 
man airships  swept  over  our  heads,  and  as  our  costumes  were 
of  a  different  color  from  the  uniform  of  the  Belgian  soldiers,  we 
felt  certain  that  our  presence  was  known.  The  trenches  were  a 
mass  of  mud,  slimy  and  treacherous.  Crude  wooden  revetments 
lined  the  bottom  of  the  zigzag  ditches,  over  which  we  slipped  and 
stumbled.  We  passed  many  dugouts — concrete  bombproof  struc- 
tures— in  which  men  were  sleeping  on  straw  or  blankets  spread 
on  the  wet  ground.  Here  a  few  soldiers  performing  their  morn- 
ing toilet  from  a  bucket  of  water,  there  a  group  preparing  break- 
fast over  an  improvised  stove  of  stones  and  discarded  tin  cans. 
Everything  was  mixed  with  dirt,  mud  and  slimy  water,  but  the 
men  were  cheerful  and  bright  and  looked  healthy  despite  their 
comfortless  surroundings.  They  all  saluted  us,  for  they  knew 
we  were  Americans  and  that  our  Nation  had  come  to  help  their 
crushed  country. 

As  most  of  us  were  fairly  tall,  we  had  to  keep  our  heads 
well  down,  for  these  trenches  were  built  for  Belgian  soldiers  who 
are  not  as  tall  as  we,  and  we  knew  that  ''somewhere  in  Flanders" 
— and  that  less  than  a  hundred  yards  away — the  boche  had  de- 
clared an  open  season  for  Americans.  These  trenches  are  dif- 
ferent from  those  we  had  seen  elsewhere,  for  as  the  land 
here  is  low  and  wet  they  are  built  above  ground,  being  constructed 
by  piling  up  bags  of  dirt  which  are  reenforced  by  wooden  stakes. 
"No  man's  land"  was  a  great  lake,  with  several  feet  of  water 
and  mud  between  the  opposing  lines,  for  the  Belgians,  to  prevent 
an  infantry  attack,  had  flooded  the  land  between  the  trenches. 
Finally  we  came  to  the  front-line  trenches,  with  the  Germans 
only  forty  yards  away.  We  were  among  the  men  charged  with 
the  duty  of  holding  the  line  or  dying  in  the  attempt  Then  came 
to  me  that  admonition  of  Demosthenes  to  the  Athenians : 

"Go  yourselves,  every  man  of  you  and  stand  in  the  ranks 
and  either  a  victory  beyond  all  victories  in  its  glory  awaits  you 
or  falling  you  shall  fall  greatly  and  worthily  of  your  past." 


218   ONE  HUNDRED  PER  CENT  AMERICAN 

Trench  mortars,  machine  guns,  rifles,  hand  grenades,  cart- 
ridges, gas  masks,  helmets,  all  were  in  place  ready  for  instant  use. 
That  we  had  been  discovered  was  soon  evident,  for  we  had 
hardly  reached  the  front  trench  before  the  Germans  opened  fire. 
We  crouched  down  in  a  heap  as  the  machine  guns  and  the  snipers 
concentrated  their  fusillade  upon  us.  Zip,  zip,  the  vicious  bul- 
lets flew  over  our  heads  or  with  a  thud  embedded  themselves  in 
the  soft  dirt  of  the  trench  a  foot  or  two  from  us.  We  were 
spattered  by  mud,  but  fortunately  none  were  hit.  Then  they 
opened  with  howitzers.  The  whine  of  the  shells  is  an  uncanny 
sound,  half  moan,  half  screech,  and  it  is  a  peculiar  sensation  to 
have  these  projectiles,  intended  for  your  destruction,  come 
screaming  towards  you.  First  you  hear  the  sound  on  the  left, 
then  on  the  right,  then  it  seems  as  though  the  shell  were  directly 
overhead,  the  roar  gaining  in  intensity  until  the  shell  strikes  the 
earth.  Fortunately,  all  of  the  projectiles  passed  over  us  and 
exploded  in  the  mud  several  hundred  yards  away.  The  captain 
who  had  escorted  us  to  the  front  deemed  it  unwise  for  us  to 
remain  longer,  so  we  retired  to  safer  ground.  The  one  great 
trouble  about  these  visits  to  the  trenches,  aside  from  the  personal 
danger,  is  the  fact  that  after  the  visitors  leave,  the  poor  soldiers 
who  remain  at  their  posts  must  endure  the  bombardment.  While 
we  were  in  this  front  line  an  officer  was  killed  just  next  to  us  and 
a  soldier  wounded. 

That  morning's  bombardment — the  one  which  had  awakened 
us — had  destroyed  parts  of  the  communicating  trench,  leaving 
great  gaps  fully  exposed  to  the  enemy's  fire.  Coming  in,  as 
there  was  no  firing,  we  did  not  realize  our  danger;  but  on  our 
return,  knowing  that  the  Boche  were  aware  of  our  presence,  these 
gaps  became  real  danger  spots.  We  would  wait  a  moment  on 
one  side  of  the  broken  trench  and  then  throw  ourselves  across 
the  opening  in  the  hope  that  the  sharpshooters  would  not  have 
time  to  bag  us.  At  one  gap  I  asked  the  captain  where  one  of 
the  machine  guns  which  was  playing  on  us,  was  located.  He 
said,  "Just.  over  there  where  you  see  the  old  foundations  of  a 
mill."  I  peered  around  the  open  space — I  can  assure  you  my 
head  did  not  protrude  very  far — and  looked  in  the  direction  the 
captain  indicated.  There,  sure  enough,  about  sixty  yards  away 
I  saw  the  machine  gun  resting  on  the  wall  of  the  old  mill  and 
could  see  the  flames  spurt  from  the  barrel  as  the  gunner  blazed 
away  at  us.  We  then  visited  the  northern  part  of  the  line  and 
met  the  major  in  command.  He  invited  us  to  his  palace.  We 
found  it  a  miserable  little  lean-to,  built  against  the  only  remain- 
ing wall  of  a  house,  just  large  enough  for  two  or  three  people 
to  squeeze  into.    We  told  him  that  after  the  war  we  would  visit 


THE  MORAL  ISSUES  OF  THE  WAR  219 

him  in  his  headquarters  in  Brussels.  "Surest  thing  you  know," 
he  replied  in  perfect  American,  and  we  felt  very  much  at  home. 

I  am  going  now,  for  just  a  moment,  to  England.  I  wish  I 
could  tell  you  about  the  gallant  fleet  we  saw  anchored  in  the 
North  of  England,  but  that  is  taboo.  I  am  going  to  take  you 
to  Glasgow  and  tell  you  that  there,  on  the  Clyde,  they  are  to- 
day manufacturing  not  only  ships,  large  and  small,  but  aero- 
planes, tanks,  ammunition  of  all  kinds.  We  saw  the  great  Sin- 
ger Sewing  Machine  factory,  not  making  sewing  machines,  but 
turning  out  thousands  and  thousands  of  great  shells,  and  thou- 
sands and  thousands  of  fuses.  I  can't  tell  you  the  number,  but 
if  Germany  thinks  that  Great  Britain  is  getting  short  of  ammu- 
nition or  supplies,  she  has  got  to  revise  her  estimates. 

From  Glasgow  we  went  to  Carlisle,  and  there  we  saw  the 
wonderful  powder  plant  that  employs  twenty  thousand  persons, 
one-half  of  whom  are  women.  Eighteen  months  ago  there  was 
nothing  here  but  a  green  pasture.  To-day  over  sixty  thousand 
people  have  their  homes  in  this  locality.  They  have  schools, 
lecture-rooms,  stores,  theaters,  bakeries,  electric  lights — every- 
thing that  a  complete  city  has.  We  went  through  the  houses 
where  the  employees  live.  The  girls,  if  they  are  without  their 
families,  are  quartered  in  large  wooden  buildings  called  "cubi- 
cals,"  one-story  dormitories  accommodating  ninety-six  girls  each 
in  charge  of  a  matron  and  an  assistant.  Each  girl  has  her  own 
little  room,  partly  inclosed,  furnished  with  a  bed  and  bureau, 
and  there  is  in  each  cubical  a  general  assembly  room  for  read- 
ing and  social  meetings.  Everything  in  this  plant  is  carried  on 
with  mathematical  precision.  Every  ounce  of  powder  is  an  exact 
ounce,  for  any  variation  in  the  quantity  anywhere  along  the  line 
would  upset  the  range  of  the  guns  on  the  firing  line.  At  first 
they  had  great  difficulty  in  making  the  girls  realize  the  impor- 
tance of  accuracy,  and  many  cases  were  reported  of  overcharges. 
When  spoken  to,  the  girls  would  reply,  "What  difference  does 
it  make?  It's  all  for  Jock  and  a  little  extra  good  measure 
will  help  him  win  the  fight."  Here  let  me  pay  my  tribute  to 
the  splendid  womanhood  of  Great  Britain,  to  the  women,  who, 
irrespective  of  social  position  or  financial  standing,  are  doing 
their  part  in  the  great  struggle.  Each  is  doing  her  bit,  the  best 
she  knows  how,  heroically,  nobly.  No  sacrifice  is  too  great, 
no  hardship  too  severe,  whether  it  be  in  the  hospitals,  in  the 
workshops,  on  the  farms,  in  the  offices,  their  determination, 
their  zeal  and  their  courage  surmount  all  difficulties  and  nerve 
them  to  face  sorrow  and  suffering  without  a  murmur.  Am- 
bassador Page  related  an  instance  which  happened  to  him.  He 
knew  a  lady  and  gentleman  of  rank  and  wealth  who  had  an  only 


220   ONE  HUNDRED  PER  CENT  AMERICAN 

son.  This  boy  volunteered  in  the  army.  One  day  Mr.  Page 
met  the  lady  at  a  reception,  and  with  a  smile  on  her  face,  she 
came  up  to  him  and  said,  "Mr.  Page,  have  you  heard  of  the 
great  honor  which  has  come  to  my  husband  and  myself?"  He, 
knowing  of  the  promise  of  the  boy  and  the  brightness  of  his 
future  as  well  as  of  the  hopes  they  had  in  him  as  the  heir  of 
their  title  and  wealth,  supposed,  of  course,  she  referred  to  some 
promotion.  He  said,  "No ;  I  have  not  heard  of  the  honor."  She 
replied,  "Our  boy  has  been  killed  fighting  for  his  country."  My 
friends,  when  you  think  of  what  this  must  have  meant  to  that 
woman,  when  you  think  of  what  the  heartache  must  have  been 
as  she  faced  the  future,  you  can  realize  what  courage  means 
when  the  supreme  test  comes,  and  her  case  is  only  one  of  thou- 
sands. From  the  mansion  to  the  hut,  the  poor  and  the  wealthy, 
the  high  and  the  low,  meet  on  common  ground  in  the  great  democ- 
racy of  patriotism  and  death. 

Let  me  recount  another  pathetic  story,  or  at  least  one  show- 
ing the  splendid  spirit  of  these  magnificent  women.  While  in 
Flanders  I  became  acquainted  with  an  auto  driver,  a  young  sol- 
dier who  had  been  in  the  regular  army,  had  been  wounded  and 
honorably  discharged  and  then  had  volunteered  as  chauffeur. 
He  asked  me  which  way  I  was  going  home,  and  I  told  him  by 
way  of  Liverpool.  He  said,  "I  have  a  mother  in  Chester,  and 
would  it  be  asking  too  much  if  you  would  go  and  see  her?"  I 
told  him  if  I  were  to  be  in  Liverpool  I  would  also  be  in  Chester 
and  that  I  would  call  on  his  mother.  I  did  so,  and  found  the 
address  he  had  given  me  in  a  very  lowly  part  of  the  city.  It 
was  a  simple  house,  a  humble  home.  I  knocked  at  the  door 
and  an  elderly  woman  with  pleasant  face  and  kindly  manner 
greeted  me.  Sleeves  rolled  up  and  a  great  apron  showed  that 
she  was  at  work  in  her  kitchen.  I  told  her  I  came  with  a  mes- 
sage from  her  boy  and  her  face  became  radiant  as  the  sun.  She 
invited  me  to  the  kitchen  where  she  was  preparing  dinner,  and 
I  met  there  her  five  daughters  who  had  come  home  from  their 
work  to  take  lunch  with  their  mother.  I  told  her  her  boy  was 
safe  and  happy  and  had  sent  his  love  to  her  and  his  sisters. 
She  said,  "Oh,  he  is  a  good  boy;  he  is  the  hope  of  my  life.  I 
have  been  his  father  as  well  as  his  mother,  because  my  hus- 
band died  when  he  was  only  two  years  old.  When  the  war 
came  he  was  determined  to  do  his  part  and  enlisted.  I  did  not 
try  to  stop  him.  After  his  honorable  discharge  on  account  of 
his  wounds  I  thought  perhaps  he  would  stay  at  home,  but  he 
was  not  satisfied  because  he  thought  there  was  still  some  work 
he  could  do  and  so  he  enlisted  in  the  auto  service.  I  did  not 
argue  with  him,  for  I  knew  where  his  heart  was  and  mine  was 


THE  MORAL  ISSUES  OF  THE  WAR  221 

there  too;  it  was  the  call  of  duty."  She  told  me  that  her  five 
daughters  were  all  in  the  service,  one  in  an  ammunition  plant, 
one  in  a  gun  factory,  one  a  conductor  on  a  trolley  car.  I  have 
forgotten  what  the  other  two  were  doing,  but  they  were  all 
doing  their  bit  in  the  war;  and  then  the  mother  said,  "Hus- 
band gone,  one  son  at  the  front,  five  girls  at  work,  my  only 
regret  is  that  I  have  no  more  children  to  give  in  the  cause 
of  my  country." 

That  is  the  spirit  of  the  hour  to-day  in  France  and  Great 
Britain,  in  Canada,  in  Australia,  in  Italy.  It  is  the  spirit  of  free- 
dom and  liberty  ringing  out  from  brave  hearts.  That  is  the  spirit 
which  inspired  Washington  and  the  patriots  of  our  own  Revolu- 
tion. It  is  the  spirit,  too,  of  America  of  the  present,  calling  to 
her  sons  and  daughters  in  this  hour  of  trial.  That  is  the  spirit 
that  impels  men  to  follow  onward  and  plant  the  old  flag  forward 
in  the  fight. 

You  may  ask  me  how  long  this  war  is  going  to  last,  and  I 
say,  I  do  not  know.  You  may  ask  me  how  many  men  it  is  going 
to  take  to  win  this  war,  and  again  I  answer,  I  do  not  know.  But 
I  do  know  this,  that  no  matter  how  long  it  may  take,  or  how 
many  men  it  may  take,  the  war  is  going  on  backed  by  all  the 
resources  of  this  country,  until  it  is  won  for  justice,  liberty  and 
righteousness.  The  pathway  we  are  going  to  follow  is  a  path- 
way of  hardships  and  of  sacrifice  and  of  trials.  It  is  a  path 
that  will  lead  by  the  graves  of  sons  and  of  brothers,  heroes  who 
have  fallen  in  the  fight;  it  will  lead  down  into  the  darkness  of 
sorrows,  into  the  vale  of  tears;  but  it  is  the  pathway  to  that 
victory  which  will  mean  a  permanent  peace  and  the  supremacy 
of  the  principles  of  our  Republic  now  and  for  evermore. 


TWO:     BY  REVEREND  ISAAC  J.  LANSING 

We  are  told  that  "Governments  derive  their  just  powers  from 
the  consent  of  the  Governed."  This  noble  phrase  from  the  im- 
mortal Declaration  of  Independence,  is  sometimes  said  to  contain 
the  adequate  definition  of  a  democracy.  But  this  quotation  re- 
quires explanation.  If  it  means  that  all  governments  derive 
their  just  powers  from  the  active  consent  of  those  governed,  we 
must  urge  that  this  is  plainly  untrue,  since  the  women  living 
under  such  governments  and  constituting  fully  one-half  of  their 
responsible  inhabitants,  have  rarely  or  never  been  asked  their  con- 
sent in  any  form  of  government.  This  fact  alone  invalidates 
the  quotation  as  a  definition. 


222       ONE  HUNDRED  PER  CENT  AMERICAN 

If  the  statement  means  that  all  who  live  under  a  government 
must  give  active  or  passive  consent,  it  then  appears  that  no 
government  exists  wherein  there  is  not  a  considerable  minority 
which  lives  in  a  constant  state  of  protest  against  it ;  and  these 
are  not  all  law  breakers  necessarily,  but  oftentimes  are  the 
most  progressive  of  its  people.  The  truth  is  that  governments 
derive  their  just  powers  not  primarily  from  the  consent  of  men 
but  from  the  universal  and  benevolent  laws  of  God,  laws  not 
primarily  made  or  amended,  neither  created  nor  repealed  by  any 
human  legislative  body.  Nor  can  they  ever  be.  They  are  the 
established  code  of  an  eternal  order. 

A  few  days  ago  the  Premier  of  Great  Britain,  Mr.  Lloyd 
George,  in  a  very  impressive  speech  to  an  industrial  Convention, 
denning  democracy,  used  these  words:  "Democracy,  in  plain 
terms,  is  the  rule  of  the  Majority."  But  from  time  to  time  in 
our  own  country,  which  we  claim  to  be  representatively  demo- 
cratic, the  Administration,  under  our  system  of  voting,  has  been 
elected  by  a  minority  of  the  voters  voting,  and  a  more  marked 
minority  of  all  the  legal  voters.  And  in  such  a  case  if  the  ad- 
ministration is  partisan,  the  will  of  the  majority  is  subordinated 
to  that  of  the  minority.  If  it  is  said  that  the  majority  passively 
consent,  it  would  not  help  matters  to  say  that  in  a  government 
ruled  by  a  minority  to  whose  rule  the  majority  consents,  the 
result  is  a  democracy.    It  might  be  an  oligarchy. 

Once  again,  we  note  that  a  few  days  ago  the  Japanese,  who 
have  really  an  autocratic  government,  hearing  so  much  said 
by  us  and  others  about  our  purpose  to  foster  democracy,  took 
alarm  and  inquired  whether  they  were  to  understand  that  we 
purposed  to  make  of  their  government  a  democracy, — a  natural 
and  very  embarrassing  question.  To  this  the  minister  of  the 
United  States  in  their  country  replied,  that  "The  Allies  were 
fighting  not  for  democracy  in  nations  but  for  democracy  among 
nations."  Deft  and  novel  as  this  turn  of  speech  may  be,  you 
cannot  suppose  that  it  satisfied  the  acute  Japanese  mind.  No 
more  does  it  satisfy  our  own.  It  may  state  a  fact  or  it  may 
not,  but  if  this  is  the  test  of  democracy,  then  our  government  in 
the  past,  and  that  of  monarchical  states  which  have  constitutions 
and  parliaments,  are  not  warranted  in  being  classed  as  democ- 
racies. 

Once  more,  by  your  leave,  I  note  that  a  sagacious  publicist 
has  recently  said:  "In  an  autocracy,  the  administration  directs 
the  people  and  their  representatives ;  in  a  democracy,  the  people 
direct  their  administrator  or  administrators."  The  day  after  I 
first  read  this,  the  "Overman  Bill"  was  presented  to  the  Senate 
of  the  United  States,  by  request  of  the  President,  asking  that 


THE  MORAL  ISSUES  OF  THE  WAR  223 

Congress  which  had  recently  granted  him  powers  in  excess  of 
those  of  almost  any  monarch  on  earth,  should  add  almost  in- 
definitely to  those  powers.  Is  it  not  obvious  that  the  President 
for  practically  all  the  term  of  his  presidency,  has  constrained 
and  directed  the  representatives  of  the  people,  and  so  the  people 
themselves?  If  this  is  true,  as  it  appears  to  me  to  be,  then  this 
fourth  definition  of  democracy  is  not  applicable  to  this  country. 

You  have  borne  with  me  while  I  have  tried  to  prove  to  you 
that  I  do  not  so  fully  know  what  democracy  is  that  I  would  as- 
sume to  define  it  or  its  aims  to  you.  And  I  shall  be  very  glad  if 
you  know  so  well  what  I  do  not  know  that  I  need  not  try  further 
to  define  it. 

Our  general  topic  is  "The  Spiritual  Aims  and  Gains  of  the 
Nation."  This  subject  I  should  be  able  in  some  degree  to  il- 
luminate. I  am  well  aware  that  I  am  in  the  presence  of  states- 
men, lawyers,  soldiers,  philanthropists  and  masters  of  affairs. 
Each  of  you  know  much  that  I  do  not  know  as  well  as  you 
know  it,  about  statecraft,  law,  military  affairs,  and  various  spe- 
cialties relating  to  the  public  welfare.  Toward  your  larger 
knowledge  I  feel  a  becoming  deference  and  respect.  My  spe- 
cialty is  the  things  of  the  spiritual  life  as  relating  to  God  and 
man.  Trusting  to  the  large  hospitality  of  your  minds,  may  I  be 
permitted  to  reveal  my  own  thinking  on  the  subject  which, 
as  a  minister  of  God  to  men,  I  ought  to  know  more  about  than 
any  other.  Let  me  speak  as  a  Christian  teacher  who  seeks  to 
have  also  the  vision  of  a  statesman. 

All  that  I  say  will  be  within  the  limits  of  the  defined  policies 
and  purposes  of  that  American  statesman  now  everywhere  ac- 
claimed as  most  worthy  of  the  respect  and  honor  of  all  who 
love  liberty  under  law,  Abraham  Lincoln.  Of  his  spiritual 
vision  and  piety  as  applied  to  the  conduct  of  weighty  affairs  in 
which  he  won  immortal  fame,  Mr.  James  G.  Blaine,  one  of  our 
most  honored  names,  thus  speaks  in  his  "Twenty  Years  in 
Congress":  "Throughout  the  whole  period  of  the  (Civil)  War, 
he  (Mr.  Lincoln)  constantly  directed  the  attention  of  the  nation 
to  dependence  on  God.  It  may  indeed  be  doubted  whether  he 
omitted  this  in  a  single  state  paper.  In  every  message  to  Con- 
gress, in  every  proclamation  to  the  people,  he  made  this  promi- 
nent. 

"In  July,  1863,  after  the  Battle  of  Gettysburg,  he  called  on 
the  people  to  give  thanks  because  'it  hath  pleased  Almighty  God 
to  hearken  to  the  supplications  and  prayers  of  an  afflicted  people, 
and  to  vouchsafe  signal  and  effective  victories  to  the  Army  and 
Navy  of  the  United  States,'  and  he  asked  the  people  'to  render 
homage  to  the  Divine  Majesty  and  to  invoke  the  influence  of  His 


224   ONE  HUNDRED  PER  CENT  AMERICAN 

Holy  Spirit  to  subdue  the  anger  which  has  produced  and  so 
long  sustained  a  needless  and  cruel  rebellion.'  ..,.1.-1 

"On  another  occasion,  recounting  the  blessings  which  had 
come  to  the  Union,  he  said,  'No  human  counsel  hath  devised 
nor  hath  any  mortal  hand  worked  out  these  great  things.  They 
are  the  gracious  gifts  of  the  Most  High  God,  Who  while  deal- 
ing with  us  in  anger  for  our  sins,  hath  nevertheless  remembered 
mercy.' 

"Throughout  his  entire  official  career,— attended  at  all  times 
with  exacting  duty  and  painful  responsibility,— he  never  forgot 
his  own  dependence  or  the  dependence  of  the  people  upon  a 
Higher  Power. 

"In  his  last  public  address,  delivered  to  an  immense  crowd 
assembled  at  the  White  House  on  the  nth  of  April,  1865,  to 
congratulate  him  on  the  victories  of  the  Union,  the  President, 
standing  as  he  unconsciously  was,  in  the  very  shadow  of  death, 
said  reverently  to  his  hearers,  'In  the  midst  of  your  joyous 
expression,  He  from  Whom  all  blessings  flow  must  first  be  re- 
membered.' "... 

This  reflection  of  Mr.  Lincoln's  thought  and  spirit,  attested 
by  his  eminent  contemporary,  may  well  impress  upon  us  the 
wisdom  and  the  source  of  true  and  immortal  statesmanship,  and 
vindicate,  if  it  needs  vindication,  my  purpose  to  discuss  the 
emergence  out  of  this  war  of  those  spiritual  certainties  which 
have  appeared  and  will  more  fully  appear  to  those  who  watch 
for  the  stars  which  are  rising  on  the  brow  of  this  dark  and 
dreadful  night. 

What  broadest  principles  of  enduring  life,  principles  which 
are  momentous  and  everlasting,  essential  to  the  life  of  human 
society  and  the  continuance  of  the  civil  state,  have  become  clear 
since  the  war  began  and  are  destined  to  grow  clearer  as  long  as 
reason  and  life  last?  A  selected  few  of  these  permit  me  to 
discuss. 

First:  Materialism  is  discredited,  stripped  and  repudiated 
— materialism,  affirming  physical  energy  but  denying  the  soul, 
rejecting  God  and  lightly  regarding  authoritative  morals,  has 
been  rampant.  Its  creed  is  atheistic ;  its  fundamental  theory  is  of 
a  Godless  world.  It  declares  matter  sufficient  unto  itself  to 
produce  itself,  to  account  for  itself,  to  guide  itself,  to  be  in  itself 
an  end  and  goal,  and  all  without  God.  It  has  been  assumed, 
allowed,  promulgated,  accepted  as  having  its  adequate  basis  in 
atheistic  evolution.  Evolution  without  God,  blind,  without  fore- 
sight or  mind,  if  begun  at  all,  proceeding  by  an  irresistible  force, 
(whether  backward  or  forward  it  offers  no  criteria  to  prove),  in 
which  human  life  appears  as  other  life  appears,  doing  what  i/ 


THE  MORAL  ISSUES  OF  THE  WAR  225 

must,  without  controlling  volition  and  without  either  duty  or 
obligation, — this  had  become  the  conceived  background,  the 
alleged  cause,  the  assumed  uncontrolled  certainty  in  individual 
and  collective  life. 

Germany,  possessed  with  this  prevalent  idea,  has  exalted  to 
the  position  of  axioms  of  interpretation  in  social  and  national 
life,  the  two  fundamental  passwords,  supposed  to  govern  the 
origin  of  species,  namely,  'The  struggle  for  life,"  and  the 
"Survival  of  the  fittest."  They  were  logical  in  assuming  that 
if  these  tests  are  true  anywhere,  they  are  true  everywhere;  that 
if  they  apply  to  the  human  species  at  all  they  apply  to  it  always 
and  under  all  circumstances.  What  more  natural  or  pleasing  in 
their  life  than  to  conclude,  as  they  might  say,  irresistibly,  that 
they,  as  individuals  and  as  a  people,  had  made  the  "struggle  for 
life"  in  competition  with  other  peoples,  and  had  proved  in  them- 
selves by  their  superiority,  as  they  conceived  it,  that  their  fitness 
was  the  fitness  of  "the  fittest"  and  their  "survival"  was  actually 
and  prophetically  assured.  This  they  had  the  courage  to  affirm. 
In  so  doing  their  main  premise  being  allowed,  they  were  perfectly 
logical.  They  were  carrying  their  theory  to  its  practical  applica- 
tion and  limit. 

Out  of  this  process  emerged  for  Nietzsche,  "The  Superman" 
which  (or  who)  is  the  finality  in  his  conception  and  philosophy 
of  the  individual,  and  that  of  Germany  which  follows  him.  The 
"superman"  is  he  who  is  superior  to  all  but  himself,  superior  to 
all  law  but  that  of  his  own  volition,  a  perfect  egoist,  who, 
untrammeled  and  of  necessity,  sacrifices  all  to  himself.  In  self- 
assertion  he  holds  his  might  to  be  the  only  right,  and  he  prac- 
tically worships  himself,  his  own  desires  and  his  own  will. 

Treitschke,  chief  of  Germany's  political  philosophers,  their 
acknowledged  master,  at  first  strongly  averse  to  Nietzsche,  later 
took  advantage  of  the  latter's  suggestion  to  affirm  that  the  "super- 
state" was  the  one  and  only  superior  of  the  "superman" — the 
state  affirming  its  will,  its  unrivaled  and  uncontradicted  demands, 
from  which  there  could  be  no  appeal  and  beyond  which  no  right. 
The  affirmation  of  German  superiority  is  a  natural  and  logical 
result  of  the  doctrine  of  evolution  without  God, — materialistic 
evolution.  Fixing  on  this  their  gaze,  the  whole  teaching  force  of 
this  empire  proceeded  to  work  out  and  to  teach  its  philosophy 
through  all  its  educative  agencies,  until,  after  the  lapse  of  years, 
it  came  to  be  the  fixed  belief  of  their  intellectuals,  their  civil 
leaders  and  their  military  men.  Might  being  declared  to  be  the 
only  right,  and  might  only  and  always  materialism  in  one  or 
another  form,  from  this  they  reasoned  that  they  had  before  them 
the  duty  and  the  destiny  of  subjugating  the  world.    The  scheme 


226   ONE  HUNDRED  PER  CENT  AMERICAN 

of  thought  has  governed  their  education,  has  made  their  theory 
of  the  Nation;  their  theory  has  ultimated  in  their  policy  and 
conduct,  and  ignoring  all  that  the  rest  of  the  world  holds  as  the 
true  theory  and  right  action  of  men  and  nations,  they  have 
undertaken  to  conquer  the  world,  which  they  despise  as  inferior 
in  its  evolution  to  themselves.  They  are  absolutely  true  to  the 
doctrine  of  evolution  as  they  hold  it,  having  no  God  over  all  and 
no  spiritual  nature  in  man.  And  this  is  called  a  "scientific"  view, 
that  being  a  momentous  word  with  which  to  conjure  confidence. 

Asserting  it,  gave  them  an  assumed  leadership  in  education. 
Their  imitators  were  found  in  many  lands,  their  propagandists 
everywhere.  Their  idea  of  themselves  they  wished  us  all  to 
entertain,  and  an  idea  of  ourselves  which  subordinated  us  to 
them.  Mr.  Poultney  Bigelow,  who,  I  believe,  was  in  the  Uni- 
versity with  the  Kaiser,  well  says:  "The  great  German  propa- 
ganda is  more  than  twenty  years  old  and  was  part  of  a  general 
scheme  to  prepare  the  United  States  for  the  war  in  which  we  are 
now  engaged.  Not  only  the  Imperial  Staff  of  the  German  army 
acted  as  a  central  bureau  of  information  on  all  things  American ; 
but  the  schools,  the  universities  and  societies  for  the  propagation 
of  Deutschthum  and  Deutsche  Kitltur  were  steered  by  military 
officials  to  prepare  the  American  mind  for  a  beneficent  German 
Empire  in  which  a  Germanized  America  would  be  one  of  the 
many  provinces  bowing  down  to  a  Germanized  Augustus  Caesar. 

"Every  American  school,  university  or  scientific  institution 
was  feeling  the  spell  of  this  propaganda  without  knowing  its 
source.  American  colleges  were  commencing  to  feel  that  there 
was  little  worth  learning  in  France  or  England — that  the  goal 
of  academic  ambition  was  a  Berlin  or  Leipzig  Ph.  D.  degree. 
The  arrogance  of  all  Prussian  professors  at  our  seats  of  learning 
was  mistaken  by  us  for  the  assertiveness  of  great  masters  and  we 
little  dreamed  that  these  poisonous  pundits  thought  more  of  a 
Fourth  Class  Red  Ribbon  in  Berlin  than  of  the  good  will  of  their 
colleagues  of  Harvard  or  Ann  Arbor. 

"And  then  the  Exchange  Professors  and  the  visit  of  Prince 
Henry,  and  the  Germanic  Museum  for  Harvard,  and  the  statue  of 
Frederick  the  Great  for  Washington  and  the  persistent  and  nau- 
seating celebration  where  glasses  were  raised  to  the  'traditional 
friendship'  of  the  two  countries — and  all  the  while  the  great 
general  staff  of  Berlin  was  feverishly  at  work  preparing  plans 
for  an  invasion  of  America  on  the  Belgian-Rumanian  plan." 
With  Mr.  Bigelow  agree  the  best  informed  students  of  affairs 
everywhere. 

Plainly  stated  their  purpose  is  the  mastery,  enslavement  and 
robbery  of  all  nations.     This  purpose  is  now  resisted  by  all  but 


THE  MORAL  ISSUES  OF  THE  WAR  227 

their  present  dupes  and  slaves,  and  the  principles  which  they 
profess  are  equally  repudiated.  If  we  were  once  blindly  drifting 
into  their  way  of  thinking,  we  now  renounce  it.  Their  philosophy 
is  no  longer  philosophy,  their  science  is  no  longer  science  to  us. 
Both  are  Prussianism  at  its  worst.  In  every  realm  we  have 
partially  conceded  to  them  the  primacy  which  they  have  claimed. 
Now  we  see  their  falseness  and  our  folly.  Their  high  priests  of 
science  falsely  so  called,  have  not  the  first  quality  of  a  scientific 
mind,  namely  truthfulness — the  love  of  truth.  In  the  first  year 
of  the  war  nearly  one  hundred  of  the  most  distinguished  of  them 
drew  up  and  signed  a  declaration  addressed  "to  the  civilized 
world"  in  which  among  other  statements,  these  are  given 
prominence:  "It  is  not  true  that  Germany  is  guilty  of  having 
caused  this  war.  It  is  not  true  that  the  life  and  property  of 
a  single  Belgian  citizen  was  injured  by  our  soldiers  without  the 
bitterest  self-defence  having  made  it  necessary.  It  is  not  true 
that  our  troops  treated  Louvain  brutally.  It  is  not  true  that 
our  warfare  pays  no  respect  to  international  laws."  A  distin- 
guished American  specialist  in  physical  science  truthfully  says, 
"In  these  false  declarations  by  German  scientists  whose  names, 
many  of  them,  are  household  words, — declarations  which  have 
never  been  withdrawn — German  science  has  met  the  greatest 
downfall  in  her  history."  Yet  these  are  the  leaders,  the  masters 
who  have  been  sought,  lauded  and  blindly  followed  for  two 
generations  as  having  the  right,  because  they  claimed  it,  to 
reconstruct  human  ideals  and  thought  on  the  basis  of  their  scien- 
tific dixit.  We  are  ashamed  of  our  fatuous  folly.  These 
immoral,  inhuman  slaves  of  their  Prussian  masters  have  been 
sought  to  teach  us  science,  theology,  sociology.  What  are  aca- 
demic degrees  worth,  given  by  such  critics  and  professors  ?  They 
have  sown  the  wind;  we  are  now  reaping  the  whirlwind.  Their 
materialism  is  bringing  forth  its  expected  and  legitimate  fruit. 
Their  national  goal  is  consistent  with  their  characters  and  word. 
They  may  be  willing  to  be  slaves  to  Prussia.  We  are  not. 
Their  national  aims  may  be  consistent  with  their  theory  though 
without  a  shred  of  morality  or  humanity.  One  such  nation 
wrought  out  on  their  materialistic  plan  is  one  too  many.  We 
repudiate  their  theory.  We  are  shamed  by  our  own  act  in 
having  followed  them.  We  abandon  materialism  as  an  aim  for 
our  own  or  any  other  nation.  And  I  hope  we  are  penitent 
for  the  misery  which  we  have  caused  by  foolishly  following 
such  pretenders. 

Second:  Wealth  as  an  object  of  worship  is  dethroned. — 
It  had  been  allowed  to  usurp  the  throne  of  God.  Of  this  peril 
we  had  been  warned  ages  ago.     The  great  Saviour  of  the  world 


228       ONE  HUNDRED  PER  CENT  AMERICAN 

lived  and  wrought  in  an  age  when  sculptured  and  painted  idols 
were  everywhere  and  mythologies  about  these  were  religion.  Of 
any  one  of  these  idols  of  wood  and  stone,  He  never  spoke; 
concerning  them,  He  uttered  no  warning.  There  was  but  one 
idol  to  whom  He  alluded  as  disputing  with  the  one  true  and 
living  God  the  homage  of  men.  It  was  Mammon.  And  Mam- 
mon had  never  been  painted  or  sculptured.  It  was  merely  a 
name,  used  three  times  in  the  New  Testament,  for  wealth  as  an 
object  of  worship.  Christ  knew  that  long  after  all  worship  of 
stones  was  abandoned,  wealth  would  dispute  with  the  true  God 
the  devotion  of  men. 

Our  age  illustrated  the  fact.  Money,  or  wealth,  has  been 
the  measure  and  gauge  of  success.  He  who  gained  it  was  the 
envied  and  successful  man.  Gradations  of  society  have  been 
fixed  by  it.  The  upper  class  has  been  the  rich;  the  lower  class 
the  poor.  Pride,  show,  splendor,  extravagance,  have  been  the 
touchstone  of  coveted  life.  Moral  and  spiritual  standards  have 
been  subordinated  to  gain.  The  market  was  esteemed  more 
than  the  martyr.  Lying  to  gain  financial  advantage  was  ac- 
counted venial.  Education  was  bent  to  moneymaking  vocations. 
At  length  the  naked  wickedness  of  Mammon  worship  became 
clear,  as  the  German-Austrian-Turkish  robbers  began  to  assault 
and  plunder  the  world.  When  empires  lie,  break  treaties  and 
steal,  the  magnitude  of  the  disaster  frightens  us.  The  lust  of 
wealth  in  this  so-called  cultured  age,  then  takes  on  a  fury  if 
ever  equalled,  certainly  never  surpassed.  Wealth  was  so  lordly 
and  so  mighty  that  we  had  been  told  that  there  could  never  be 
a  general  European  war,  that  the  bankers  of  Europe  would  not 
permit  it;  their  money  power  would  be  the  final  arbiter.  When 
the  actual  crisis  came  they  had  no  more  power  than  children 
armed  with  reeds,  pushing  back  the  avalanche.  Mammon  at- 
tacked, was  afraid.  It  could  not  protect  itself  nor  the  world 
which  had  worshiped  it.  In  dire  extremity,  it  called  for  help; 
called  on  Patriotism  to  come  to  the  rescue.  But  even  patriotism 
was  enfeebled  by  subordination  to  wealth,  lying  with  its  head 
in  Mammon's  lap,  like  Samson  in  Delilah's.  At  length  patriotism 
slowly  broke  from  deadly  dalliance  and  called  on  Honor,  Liberty, 
Humanity,  Morality,  to  come  to  the  rescue  and  save  wealth  and 
country.  And  these  powers  not  material  but  spiritual;  not  the 
creatures  nor  the  worshipers  of  wealth  but  the  offspring  of  the 
living  God,  leaped  up  and  entered  the  fray.  Hindered  so  long 
but  ever  persistent,  they  alone  could  defend  Mammon  which 
they  always  regarded  as  a  slave.  Like  Dagon  before  the  ark  of 
the  Lord,  Mammon  groveled  and  begged.  Its  prestige  and  its 
power  were  gone.     It  could  not  help  itself,  much  less  defend 


THE  MORAL  ISSUES  OF  THE  WAR  229 

others.  Then  we  saw  and  confessed  that  we  had  a  primary 
duty  to  One  higher  than  money;  that  the  things  of  the  spirit 
were  most  worth  saving,  that  for  them  we  might  wisely  spend  all 
our  wealth.  And  at  the  call  of  Patriotism,  Honor,  Morality, 
Liberty  and  Humanity,  we  began  to  pour  forth  the  accumulated 
and  stored  treasures  of  years.  They  became  a  sacrifice  on  the 
altar  of  eternal  spiritual  good.  By  spiritual  energy,  motive  and 
intelligence  they  made  wealth  a  powerful  defensive  agency. 

How  better  can  this  great  fact  be  shown  than  by  the  motive 
and  the  act  which  gave  fifty  million  dollars  to  the  work  of  the 
Young  Men's  Christian  Association?  The  gift  was  asked  to 
make  great  and  noble  the  souls  of  our  soldiery.  Early  in  the 
war  the  cry  came  that  the  first  thing  in  the  making  of  a  first- 
rate  soldier  was  the  spirit  of  him.  The  French  called  it  the 
"morale,"  best  paraphrased  as  "the  state  of  mind."  It  meant 
everything  which  operates  in  the  inner  and  spiritual  life  of  the 
men;  sympathy,  duty,  care,  purity,  cheer,  faith,  fealty,  spirit- 
uality, loyalty  to  the  unseen  and  the  Eternal.  From  the  spiritual 
energy  and  wisdom  which  saw  and  urged  the  need,  came  the 
outpouring  of  our  gold,  now  doing  its  worthiest  service.  And 
now  we  know  that  wealth  is  a  good  servant  and  can  ever  be  such ; 
a  servant  of  man,  of  the  man  with  a  soul,  and  with  a  duty  to 
God  and  to  his  fellows,  but  nevermore  enthroned  as  master  of 
souls.  Money  is  the  servant  of  God  and  the  servant  of  men. 
It  should  cease  from  now  on  to  be  the  boast,  the  hope,  the 
goal  of  life  and  be  only  its  servant.  We  are  laying  it  on  the 
altar  of  God  and  humanity.     It  shall  never  dispute  His  throne. 

Third:  God  is  enthroned  as  the  essential  head  of  govern- 
ment.— The  recent  past  has  seen  the  rise  of  numerous  speculative 
theories  of  human  life  and  society.  With  differing  labels  they 
have  had  a  general  likeness,  and  without  practical  tests,  have 
gained  credence.  Because  new,  they  have  been  assumed  to  be 
true,  if  indeed  they  can  be  said  to  be  as  original  as  they  are 
vague  and  novel.  Private  morals  and  public  duties  have  been 
thrown  into  confusion.  Most  of  these  theories  have  had  this  in 
common,  that  they  were  atheistic  efforts  to  do  without  God 
and  to  be  substitutes  for  religion  and  morals.  Two  of  these 
may  stand  for  the  rest,  Anarchism  and  Socialism.  In  practical 
application  Anarchism  is  adverse  to  all  governments  and  all 
government.  It  objects  to  all  morals  and  moral  laws,  protests 
against  restraint,  opposes  rule  and  rulers,  and  is  not  only  oblivious 
of  God  but  rages  against  Him.  Not  definable  in  few  words,  it 
rejects  almost  all  institutions  and  the  principles  on  which  they 
are  founded;  calls  all  morality  "slave  morality,"  and  assumes 
that  each  individual  is  the  only  authoritative  ruler.     Within  a 


230       ONE  HUNDRED  PER  CENT  AMERICAN 

few  weeks  a  woman  now  in  a  United  States  prison,  holding 
all  these  ideas  in  a  most  outspoken  form,  has  assembled  an 
audience  of  three  thousand  in  New  York,  and  held  them  for 
three  hours  in  enthusiastic  approval  of  her  words,  while  she 
has  denounced  practically  all  individual,  social  and  legal  re- 
straints. That  audience,  composed  largely  of  people  recently 
come  to  this  country,  is  representative  of  great  numbers  in  this 
and  other  lands  who  endorse  these  crazy  dreams.  They  sys- 
tematically teach  to  young  children  all  these  subversive  ideas, 
and  practice,  defiantly,  their  teachings.  One  prominent  among 
them,  once  a  Christian  minister,  in  a  widely  circulated  volume, 
strenuously  objects  to  the  idea  of  God  as  Father,  declaring 
that  we  neither  need  nor  want  a  father — God,  nor  any  kind  of 
relation  which  suggests  subordination  and  dependence. 

Socialism  in  its  most  strenuous  forms,  as  in  the  German 
Social  Democracy,  is  an  association  of  people,  found  in  many 
countries,  which  is  difficult  to  define  briefly  and  characterize ; 
difficult  to  define  because  there  is  no  authoritative  representative 
whose  definitions  are  standard ;  and  not  easy  to  describe  because 
there  are  many  varying  stages  of  the  thought,  which  do  not  agree 
one  with  another.  Allowing  for  these  variations,  we  may  take  the 
mass  of  the  Social  Democrats  in  Germany  and  their  sympathizers 
in  Russia  for  illustration.  All  are  atheistic,  selfish,  intolerant, 
violent  against  wealth  and  equally  against  work,  whose  pur- 
pose is  to  dispossess  those  who  have  any  accumulated  property, 
or  any  control  of  machinery,  business  and  goods,  and  to  re- 
arrange the  whole  direction  and  ownership  of  the  same.  The 
Bolsheviki  represent  a  sufficiently  large  number  of  these  to  illus- 
trate what  they  may  do  if  they  gain  control  in  any  land.  The 
product  of  these  theories  is  in  sight.  It  is  chaos.  Russia  is 
illustrating  it.  Here  is  a  headless  nation,  because  it  is  without 
control,  without  law,  without  government,  and  pervaded  with 
a  reckless  sense  of  irresponsibility  to  any  power  human  or 
divine. 

Stability  in  a  community,  a  state,  a  nation,  must  rest  on  a 
foundation  of  laws ;  these  on  an  underlying  foundation  of  prin- 
ciples and  these  must  express  reverence  for  duties  and  rights, 
and  good  will  for  one's  neighbors.  The  deepest  principle  is  a 
sense  of  Right  and  this  has  been  placed  in  the  constitution  of 
things  by  the  Creator.  Out  of  Right  as  conceived  and  affirmed 
by  God,  come  rights,  duties,  authority,  government,  order,  har- 
mony and  prosperity.  By  these  are  upheld  honor  and  liberty,  in 
their  only  true  and  reasonable  definitions  and  sanctions.  On 
anarchy  you  cannot  predicate  order.  Its  outcome  is  chaos,  con- 
fusion. 


THE  MORAL  ISSUES  OF  THE  WAR  231 

In  a  godless  society,  right,  authority  and  government  are 
impossible.  These  must  be  founded  on  God  and  derived  from 
Him.  And  He  from  Whom  these  are  derived  and  by  Whom 
sanctioned,  is  and  must  be  much  more  than  a  Being  of  might, 
authorizing  any  and  all  actions  which  one  can  assert  the  power 
and  the  will  to  do.  Sanctioning  virtue  He  must  possess  it.  If 
He  were  without  holiness  or  righteousness,  mercy  or  love,  He 
could  neither  direct  nor  demand  these.  The  basis  of  society  is 
not  any  conception  of  God  which  a  heathen  or  a  Prussian  may 
conceive  to  best  correspond  to  his  ambitions,  but  the  one  and 
only  God,  the  God  of  universal  man,  of  universal  right  and  of 
universal  law.  Human  good  will  must  find  its  sanction  in 
Divine  good  will  and  the  spring  of  good  will  in  man  or  God, 
is  and  must  be  love.  Out  of  this  attribute  comes  and  becomes 
all  benevolent  feeling  and  beneficent  law.  As  we  know  God, 
the  ultimate  statute  of  His  kingdom  is  the  command  to  men 
to  love  Him  and  to  love  one  another.  Unless  He  is  lovable 
in  His  character  no  one,  by  being  commanded,  could  be  com- 
pelled to  love  Him.  A  god  of  mere  Might  or  a  man  in  whom 
Might,  is  all,  does  not  suggest  love  nor  show  love,  nor  show  the 
least  possibility  of  evoking  it.  A  nation  to  which  Might  is 
supreme,  cannot  know  love  and  cannot  be  loved.  Unless  there 
is  the  sanction  of  the  heart  to  the  principles,  purposes  and  mo- 
tives of  government,  it  cannot  hold  and  direct  the  race.  And 
laws  arbitrarily  forced  upon  men  by  a  characterless  being,  must 
issue  in  characterless  society. 

The  God  who  being  enthroned,  assures  social  order  (includ- 
ing civil),  must  be  the  God  who  is  revealed  as  Power  and  Love 
with  all  that  these  imply.  And  there  is  but  One  who  has  ever 
been  revealed  to  men  who  has  this  character.  He  is  the  living 
God  whom  Jesus  Christ  especially  has  made  known  to  us.  And 
so  Christ  revealing  Him  becomes  "the  chief  corner  stone"  of  the 
world  order,  and  love  becomes  its  vital  and  universal  prin- 
ciple. Any  other  view  of  man  and  society  leaves  the  individual 
selfish,  greedy,  cruel  and  detached.  At  the  same  time  it  disinte- 
grates society,  condemns  law,  causing  repulsion  instead  of  attrac- 
tion, confusion  instead  of  order.  It  is  not  possible  to  have 
society,  the  social  order  among  men,  without  bringing  them  to 
reverence  and  obey  the  God  whose  law  is  wisdom  and  love. 
To  make  order  possible,  to  save  the  state,  to  create  society,  to 
establish  law,  we  enthrone  God. 

The  Prelude  to  the  Constitution  of  the  United  States  reads : 
"We,  the  People  of  the  United  States,  in  order  to  secure  a  more 
perfect  union,  to  establish  Justice,  insure  domestic  tranquillity, 
provide  for  the  common  defense,  and  to  secure  the  blessings  of 


232   ONE  HUNDRED  PER  CENT  AMERICAN 

Liberty  for  ourselves  and  our  posterity  do  ordain  and  establish 
the  following  Constitution" — "Order,"  "Union,"  "Tranquillity," 
"Defense,"  hold  beneficent  meanings  only  when  limited  and 
defined  by  the  Law  of  God.  Reverence  for  Constitutions  must 
be  assured  through  reverence  for  God. 

Fourth  :  Transcendent  spiritual  necessities  demand  and  jus- 
tify physical  sacrifices.  Having  wisely  and  rationally  appre- 
hended that  spiritual  good  and  attributes  are  of  the  highest  worth 
to  us,  we  are  readily  and  eagerly  giving  and  exchanging  for  their 
maintenance  all  physical  possessions,  and  even  life  itself.  If  we 
have  repudiated  materialism  as  a  theory  of  human  life  and 
advantage,  and  accepted  spiritual  treasures  instead,  we  are 
proving  our  practical  faith  by  ofTering  all  we  possess  to  uphold 
our  good  confession.  Unlimited  material  sacrifices  are  being 
poured  out  by  which  to  maintain,  conserve  and  promote  our 
spiritual  possessions.  Not  mere  passive  assent  do  we  give  to  the 
proposition  that  spiritual  good  is  worth  more  than  material, 
but  we  actively  offer  all  we  have  in  proof.  Of  our  surrender 
of  wealth  and  goods  we  have  already  spoken.  A  vastly  greater 
gift  asserts  a  much  deeper  faith.  It  is  the  gift  of  life  and 
suffering. 

Of  this  supreme  personal  sacrifice  an  immortal  example  is 
found  in  the  martyrdom  of  Edith  Cavell.  Serving  the  cause 
of  humanity  and  right,  she  refused  to  count  her  life  dear  unto 
her  at  the  dictate  of  brutal  might.  With  her  beautiful  life  on 
the  one  hand  and  the  grave  on  the  other,  life  to  be  preserved  by 
inhumanity  on  her  part,  and  death  to  be  visited  upon  her  for 
benevolence,  she  chose  the  immortal  good.  And  she  deserves 
immortal  fame.  Yet  she  is  only  one  of  her  sex  of  whom  un- 
counted thousands  have  the  same  estimate  of  the  duties  and 
values  of  life.  Our  gold  is  dross  compared  with  such  offerings 
of  flesh  for  spirit. 

As  this  and  these  are  personal  sacrifices,  so  on  a  national 
scale,  we  have  seen  the  devotion  of  the  nation  of  Belgium  to 
honor  and  truth.  The  choice  was  deliberate.  History  can  never 
describe  the  grandeur  of  that  choice.  There  was  the  offer  of 
protection  and  material  advantage  without  limit  at  the  hands 
of  the  German  tempter.  The  alternative,  undisguised,  was  devas- 
tation and  death.  It  was  a  clear  choice  between  physical  riches 
and  spiritual  wealth.  And  there  was  no  hesitation,  no  uncer- 
tainty, no  debate.  Belgium  offered  all.  Her  rulers,  her  men, 
women  and  children  surrendered  every  visible  and  estimable 
treasure  so  that  she  might  keep  an  unsullied  soul;  so  that  the 
honor,  truth,  duty  of  the  nation  might  shine  as  the  stars  forever. 
Wonder   seizes  us   whenever  we   reflect   on   the   exaltation  of 


THE  MORAL  ISSUES  OF  THE  WAR  233 

motive,  and  the  sacrificial  exchange  which  Belgium  made  of  the 
things  which  are  seen  and  temporal  for  the  things  which  are  not 
seen  and  eternal. 

As  Belgium  illustrates  this  spirit  of  sacrifice  on  a  national 
scale,  no  less  have  the  Allies  done  likewise  in  the  International 
policy  which  they  have  adopted.  Their  choice  has  been  of  the 
same  nature.  Their  governments  have  staked  all  on  the  greater 
value  of  spiritual  character  and  qualities.  All  that  can  add 
glory  and  pleasure  to  the  outer  things  of  a  transient  world  they 
have  offered  up  so  as  to  gain  and  own  forever  the  spirit,  and 
the  deserved  reputation  of  honesty  and  integrity  of  life.  Their 
whole  populations,  of  one  and  another  country,  have  vied  with 
each  other  in  proving  their  loyalty  to  morality,  humanity,  integ- 
rity and  liberty.  For  Right,  moral,  humane,  God-revealed  and 
God-sanctioned  Right,  we  offer,  and  if  need  be,  will  give  up  all 
our  physical  possessions. 

Such  sacrifice  is  not  only  made  but  gladly  and  quickly  made, 
as  we  are  moved  by  spiritual  impulses  and  guided  by  reason. 
For  the  law  of  sacrifice  is  a  wholly  reasonable  law.  Seeing  that 
all  things  have  value,  and  that  some  things  have  a  much  greater 
value  than  others,  we  compare  and  measure  these  things  and 
choose  that  which  has  the  greater  worth.  For  this  we  give  the 
lesser.  The  exchange  is  made;  we  are  enriched;  and  the  act  of 
sacrifice  passes  into  the  records  of  wisdom  and  goodness.  Thus 
we  estimate  the  things  of  the  spirit,  and  we  estimate  the  things 
of  the  flesh.  The  latter  are  very  precious ;  the  former  are  much 
more  so.  We  choose  the  things  which  we  are  sure  are  worthiest 
and  most  precious.  And  it  is  the  consciousness  of  doing  this 
which  exalts  our  seeming  losses  to  immortal  gains. 

How  significant  is  this  exchange  when  we  consider  that  now, 
for  the  things  of  the  spirit,  human  life,  many  countless  lives 
are  being  given.  This  very  fact  assures  us  of  the  immortality 
of  our  personality.  If  the  spiritual  attributes  of  the  man  are 
worthy  of  defense  through  giving  up  our  material  goods,  much 
more  the  spiritual  personality  which  these  attributes  express  and 
adorn,  is  undying.  We  cannot  rationally  hold  to  the  theory  of  a 
merely  mortal  life,  ended  at  the  grave,  and  then  give  it  for  so- 
called  spiritual  good.  If  this  life  is  all,  if  there  is  no  more  life 
after  it,  then  it  is  all  and  the  best  I  have.  Indeed  it  is  so  val- 
uable that  nothing  can  be  measured  against  it.  When  it  is  gone, 
all  is  gone,  and  as  for  me,  I  am  gone.  Were  that  the  fact,  then 
I  would  not  on  any  account  or  for  any  cause,  surrender  my  life. 
Not  anything  nor  everything  else  could  be  weighed  or  measured 
against  it  to  warrant  the  exchange.  If  I  give  all  for  nothing, 
I  am  a  fool.     But  we  all  wisely  postulate  immortal  life.     After 


834   ONE  HUNDRED  PER  CENT  AMERICAN 

this  life,  there  is  more  life  for  us.  We  end  our  career  on  earth, 
but  we  go  on  beyond.  Only  the  certainty  of  this  makes  reason- 
able our  offering  of  life. 

And  so  in  this  great  day,  taking  inventory  of  our  greatest 
treasures,  we  have  come  to  have  a  clear  view  of  our  spirit  and  its 
immortal  future.  This  estimate  is  what  Jesus  Christ  made, — He 
who  -brought  life  and  immortality  to  light.  He  made  the  sac- 
rifice of  all  material  things  to  be  the  attestation  of  the  greater 
value  of  the  spiritual  things  which  remained,  and  He  gave  His 
life  because  eternal  life  is  better  and  because  He  had  more  life 
than  can  ever  be  subject  to  death.  The  war  is,  on  the  German 
side,  the  battle  of  materialism,  of  might.  Necessarily  it  must  be 
stated  in  physical  terms.  Their  war  is  immoral,  unrighteous, 
unholy,  unmerciful,  inhuman,  without  honor,  and  with  plunder 
and  merely  material  gain  for  its  purpose.  By  their  purpose  our 
spiritual  heritage  is  assailed.  Against  their  design  we  array  all 
our  spiritual  forces  which  carry  with  them  all  our  physical  pos- 
sessions, so  that  Right  may  rule,  that  eternal  Right  may  govern 
the  souls  and  the  lives  of  men  and  nations,  and  the  essentials 
which  are  eternal  may  remain  our  immortal  possessions. 

Fifth  :  Through  world-wide  cooperation  we  are  coming  to 
world  fraternity.  With  our  Allies  we  are  working  unitedly  and 
drawing  closer  in  a  cooperation  which  is  at  once  a  fellowship 
of  suffering  and  of  mutual  love  and  help.  Hitherto  we  have 
not  realized  that  we  are  really  near  neighbors  to  them.  Frater- 
nity has  been  more  spoken  of  than  felt.  But  now  all  indifference 
has  been  dissipated  and  our  former  isolation  has  ceased  to  exist. 
We  could  no  longer  withhold  from  them  our  sympathy  or  our 
service.  Joining  with  them,  we  resist  tyranny  and  contend 
against  a  common  foe.  Uniting  with  them  in  merciful  service, 
our  sympathies  as  well  as  our  courage  unify  us. 

How  could  real  fraternity  be  more  assured  than  by  the 
friendly  aid  of  which  the  Red  Cross  Society  is  the  most  con- 
spicuous example  ?  Is  there  any  kind  of  need  which  we  are  not 
eagerly  seeking  through  it  to  alleviate  ?  Its  emblem,  the  Cross,  is 
the  sign  of  reconciliation  of  two  worlds,  heaven  and  earth;  and 
of  two  continents  and  all  peoples.  Others  suffer.  That  is  all 
we  need  to  know.  And  we  hasten  to  them,  bearing  in  our 
hands  and  in  our  hearts  whatever  will  alleviate  their  distress. 

Of  kindred  character  and  influence  is  our  policy  of  "Food 
Conservation"  by  which,  with  self-denial,  self-control  and  self- 
sacrifice,  we  build  up  the  strength  of  others.  Even  to  this  day, 
as  many  times  in  years  past,  when  we  move  against  the  sale 
and  use  of  alcoholic  beverages,  some  men  remonstrate  with  us 
and  ask,  "Are  you  daring  to  invade  our  liberties  and  to  tell  us 


THE  MORAL  ISSUES  OF  THE  WAR  235 

what  we  shall  drink?  By  and  by,  you  will  tell  us  what  to 
eat."  Quite  true.  Our  government  is  now  welcome  at  our 
homes  and  tables  as  it  comes  in  and  tells  us  what  to  eat.  For 
it  not  only  advises  and  urges  us  what  to  eat  but  prescribes  what 
we  shall  not  eat.  Four  years  ago  we  should  have  jeered  at  the 
possibility  of  such  a  course.  Now  we  know  that  our  very 
life  as  a  nation  depends  on  our  compliance.  And  even  more 
marvelous  is  the  fact  that  we  are  doing  this  so  that  what  we  save 
shall  be  sent  across  the  sea  to  feed  and  strengthen  millions  whom 
we  never  saw  and  never  will  know.  Our  most  private  and  per- 
sonal use  of  food  is  being  governed  in  the  interests  of  the  whole 
world.  And  we  are  glad  to  have  it  so.  "Deny  yourself"  is  as 
truly  a  government  order  as  it  is  a  command  of  Christ.  It  is 
the  only  rule  by  which  the  nations  are  to  be  saved. 

The  Salvation  Army,  in  its  extreme  poverty,  used  to  adver- 
tise, "Self-Denial  Week."  We  were  wont  to  smile  at  their  ardor 
and  to  count  its  fanaticism.  Its  purpose  was  good,  but  in  their 
poverty  and  manifest  need,  we  wondered  why  or  how  they 
could  exercise  self-denial.  Now,  we  who  then  smiled  are  doing 
as  they  did  to  save  our  lives  by  saving  others.  It  has  been  told 
that  when  our  soldiers  first  went  to  France,  they  were  greeted 
as  "The  Salvation  Army."  Such  they  were  and  are.  We  are  all 
marching  with  them.  They  and  we  and  all  who  deny  them- 
selves for  others  are  the  Salvation  Army  of  the  World. 

And  how  remarkable  that  we  are  becoming  clearly  aware  that 
salvation  comes  through  self-denial,  and  wisest  self-direction. 
No  man  is  living  to  himself  if  he  is  living  usefully  or  rationally. 
We  now  regulate  our  desires  and  our  actions  by  God's  commands 
and  by  the  needs  of  others,  as  the  national  government  makes 
them  known  to  us.  Our  interests  affiliated  with  our  Allies 
make  our  evident  obligations.  Selfish  purposes  are  shamed  and 
fought.  Profiteering  is  forbidden  by  law;  that  is,  taking  selfish 
advantage  in  the  commercial  world  of  the  necessities  of  others 
and  enriching  ourselves  at  their  expense.  From  a  new  angle 
we  see  that  waste  and  wickedness  are  inseparable  from  the 
liquor  traffic.  We  protest  on  the  broadest  grounds  against  food- 
stuffs being  used  to  make  ruinous  and  poisonous  drinks.  There 
is  something  to  be  done  with  grains  which  must  take  precedence 
of  any  selfish  use  of  them.  Our  care  for  our  human  brothers 
is  being  emphasized.  On  it  depends  our  own  welfare,  insep- 
arable from  theirs.  We  are  brothers  in  spirit  and  action.  We 
suffer  and  serve  in  love  for  one  another.  And  so  we  come  to 
live  as  men  must  who  live  well.  The  love  for  our  neighbor  is 
the  goal  of  our  highest  victory,  the  motive  and  result  of  self- 
mastery. 


236       ONE  HUNDRED  PER  CENT  AMERICAN 

Sixth  :  The  Christian  doctrine  of  human  world  unity  is  vin- 
dicated. The  word  "Christian"  I  use  unhesitatingly  because  all 
the  gains  and  aims  which  I  hereto  have  named  are  Christian,  and 
expressions  of  Christian  principles  and  teaching.  Essentially 
spiritual,  Christian  truth  must  repudiate  mere  materialism  and 
put  in  its  place  the  truths  of  a  spiritual  world.  Likewise  Chris- 
tianity dethrones  Mammon  and  makes  wealth  the  servant  of 
higher  things.  It  enthrones  God  and  finds  in  Him  the  source  of 
the  laws  of  life  and  human  order.  One  of  its  central  doctrines 
is  that  of  self-sacrifice  for  the  good  of  others.  And  it  leads 
the  world  in  announcing  and  cultivating  the  spirit  of  brother- 
hood in  and  among  men.  So  likewise  it  assumes  and  teaches  the 
unity  and  equality  of  men  of  every  race  and  clime  as  subjects  of 
Divine  mercy  and  care. 

In  theory  and  practice  this  teaching  has  been  always  con- 
tested by  mankind.  Men  of  one  nation  or  tribe  have  considered 
themselves  superior  to  their  fellow  men  of  other  locations  and 
characteristics  and  have  usually  held  a  hostile  rather  than  a 
friendly  relation  to  the  stranger. 

Assuming  human  unity,  Christ  directed  a  universal  propa- 
ganda of  teaching  and  evangelizing  among  all  men.  The  four 
universals  of  His  final  commission  to  His  disciples  are  thus 
given  in  the  Bible :  "All  authority  hath  been  given  me  in  heaven 
and  on  earth.  Go  ye  therefore,  and  make  disciples  of  all 
nations  baptizing  them  into  the  name  of  the  Father,  the  Son 
and  the  Holy  Spirit :  teaching  them  to  observe  all  things  what- 
soever I  have  commanded  you :  and  lo,  I  am  with  you  all  the 
days,  even  unto  the  end  of  the  world."  This  is  an  announce- 
ment of  a  world  religion,  teaching  the  unity  of  law,  of  morals,  of 
truth,  of  humanity,  of  kindness  and  help  everywhere. 

So,  obedient  to  this  broad  direction,  the  followers  of  Christ 
in  every  age  have  gone  into  all  lands  and  among  all  peoples 
vindicating  world  unity,  a  common  humanity  and  a  universal 
duty  of  man  to  God  and  of  man  to  man.  Extensive  and  inclu- 
sive as  this  conception  is,  it  has  by  many  been  opposed,  traduced, 
belittled  and  scorned.  Without  hesitation,  those  who  understood 
their  Lord  have  persisted  in  their  glorious  enterprise.  By  their 
doctrine  of  God  and  their  love  of  humanity  they  have  pro- 
foundly impressed  the  mind  of  the  as  yet  unchristian  world. 
And  so  well  have  they  represented  and  taught  the  doctrine  of 
Christ  that,  at  this  time,  among  other  world-wide  benefits  which 
they  admittedly  have  conferred,  is  that  they  have  visibly  given 
to  the  leaders  of  every  land  of  the  Orient  a  lofty  conception  of 
the  Christian  spirit  and  purpose. 


THE  MORAL  ISSUES  OF  THE  WAR  237 

Naturally  the  preponderating  millions  of  Asia  might  have 
assumed  that  all  the  peoples  of  the  West  from  whence  these 
missionaries  came,  were  Christian.  But  they  have  learned  to 
discriminate.  And  now  when  nations  of  the  western  world  who 
might  have  been  expected  to  be  Christians,  have  assailed  the  rest 
of  mankind  in  ways  so  selfish  and  so  wicked  as  to  shock  even 
a  savage  mind,  all  these  oriental  nations  understand  that  such 
assailants  are  not  Christians.  They  also  understand  that  the  de- 
fenders of  the  best  things  in  human  life,  because  they  so  defend, 
are  not  to  be  classed  with  their  assailants,  and  that  on  the  side 
of  Germany  are  the  foes  of  humanity  as  on  the  side  of  the 
Allies  are  its  friends.  The  Asiatic  nations  therefore  are  the 
friends  of  the  Allies.  And  while  by  the  vastness  of  their  num- 
bers they  might,  if  hostile,  overwhelm  the  western  world,  they 
are  now  its  friends,  ready  to  police  the  world  and  to  preserve 
and  defend  the  things  which  the  missionaries  have  taught  them 
are  the  best  and  the  most  sacred  for  universal  man. 

We  owe  it  to-day  to  the  work  of  the  Christian  missionaries 
teaching  the  nature  of  God  as  Father  and  the  privilege  of  men 
as  brothers,  that  the  sympathies  and  alliances  of  the  Asiatic  and 
even  the  African  world  are  with  the  Allies. 

The  grounds  on  which  Germany  seeks  to  subjugate  and 
tyrannize  over  the  human  race  are  totally  unchristian.  Assum- 
ing with  unspeakable  conceit  that  they  are  superior  to  all  the 
rest  of  mankind  and  that  they  shall  be  masters  while  all 
the  rest  are  their  slaves,  they  have  not  only  awakened  Europe 
and  America  to  resist  them  but  have  shown  to  the  Far  East 
as  well,  their  presumption,  their  savagery  and  their  unfitness  to 
rule. 

It  remains  for  the  nations  of  the  West  to  see  their  duty  to 
send  hereafter  their  best  representatives  to  the  East  to  give  to 
them  our  very  best  treasures,  training  and  culture.  Last  year 
by  dint  of  great  self-denial,  the  Christians  of  the  North  Amer- 
ican Continent  spent  twenty  million  dollars,  most  freely  given, 
to  carry  the  best  of  their  possessions,  the  truth  of  the  Gospel, 
to  far  lands.  Last  year  the  smokers  of  tobacco  in  the  United 
States  spent  more  than  a  thousand  millions  for  smokes,  fifty 
times  as  much  as  the  Churches  could  send  to  teach  and  care  for 
the  heathen  world.  Suppose  that  a  spirit  of  self-denial  had  come 
over  those  who  waste  this  vast  sum  and  suppose  that  it  were 
diverted  to  give  our  very  best  people  and  the  best  truth,  un- 
doubtedly the  truth  of  Christianity,  to  the  world — what  relation 
would  that  have  to  the  consolidation,  prosperity  and  peace  of 
mankind?  And  suppose  even  that  our  Government  as  a  matter 
of  economy,  so  as  to  save  billions  of  American  money  and  bil- 


238   ONE  HUNDRED  PER  CENT  AMERICAN 

lions  of  value  of  goods,  with  millions  of  invaluable  lives,  should 
hereafter  pursue  the  purpose  of  uplifting  and  unifying  the 
world  of  mankind  in  a  wholly  kindly,  brotherly,  unselfish,  philan- 
thropic and  Christian  way.  What  more  wonderful  political 
economy  could  be  launched  and  out  of  what  could  spring  greater 
universal  advantage? 

Seriously  and  reverently  let  me  say  that  the  foregoing  facts 
of  life  and  reason  made  known  to  the  world  and  impressed  on 
the  minds  of  men,  seem  to  me  a  rich  compensation  for  our 
defensive  war  and  a  call  far  more  impressive  than  the  war  cry 
of  "Democracy,"  to  furnish  a  reason  and  a  means  of  bringing 
to  us  victory.  The  form  of  government  is  of  far  less  concern 
than  its  purpose  and  spirit — and  that  spirit  with  its  form  and 
fruitage,  the  love  of  God  and  love  of  man,  reveal  the  prizes  of 
victory  now  inciting  us  to  battle. 


THREE:     BY  DR.  TALCOTT  WILLIAMS 

Dean,  School  of  Journalism,  Columbia  University. 

Nothing  could  have  done  more  to  awaken  the  country  than  the 
occurrence  which  took  place  this  week.  We  think  of  the  men  who 
have  met  death  in  the  waters  of  the  sea  which  our  fathers  crossed 
to  seek  liberty,  with  the  renewed  determination  that  we  shall  con- 
tinue to  final,  complete  and  absolute  victory  the  war  on  which 
we  have  entered  for  the  freedom  of  the  world.  Those  men 
who  have  given  life's  last  sacrifice  are  the  pledge  of  the  Re- 
public, and  while  tides  move  and  winds  blow,  this  Republic  will 
continue  to  be  the  guardian,  not  only  of  its  own  liberties,  but 
of  the  freedom  and  peace  of  the  world.  It  is  fighting  this  war 
to  secure  both.  We  are  doing  but  what  we  have  done  before. 
We  fought  one  war  to  secure  our  independence,  and  we  won 
that;  we  fought  another  war  to  secure  the  liberty  of  the  slave, 
and  we  won  that;  and  we  are  fighting  this  war  to  secure  the 
liberty  of  humanity,  and  we  shall  win  that! 

This  great  democracy  is  sometimes  spoken  of  as  casual  in  its 
decisions,  as  passing  from  phase  to  phase.  There  is  not  in  the 
world  to-day,  and  there  never  has  been  in  history,  a  marching 
host  whose  marching  orders  were  so  constant  and  continuous, 
and  which,  like  the  men  of  war  in  the  army  which  Ezekiel  saw, 
turned  not  when  they  went;  they  went  every  one  straight  for- 
ward. 

We  determined  to  draw  a  ring  fence  around  the  thirteen  colo- 
nies, unite  them  in  a  single  nation  and  guarantee  peace  for  the 


THE  MORAL  ISSUES  OF  THE  WAR 

Continent.  It  was  for  this  our  Fathers  called  their  army  the  Con- 
tinental army.  And  we  had  peace,  except  for  the  war  brought 
on  by  slavery,  that  bitter  evil  whose  seed  our  fathers  planted 
and  whose  sour  grapes  their  descendants  ate,  and  I  see  before 
me  at  least  one,  Senator  Miller,  who  shared  in  that  great  war. 
I  remember  him  in  the  Assembly  at  Albany  when  he  could  still 
draw  you  into  a  corner  and  tell  you  of  his  service  as  a  cavalry- 
man; but  you  have  forgotten  his  military  experience  in  the 
abundant  service  which  he  rendered  as  a  statesman  during  the 
course  of  the  score  of  years  when  he  was  in  the  forefront  of 
legislative  work. 

Having  drawn  a  ring  fence  around  this  continent,  ninety-five 
years  ago,  we  decided  to  draw  a  ring  fence  of  peace  around  the 
Western  Hemisphere,  and  we  did  that  when  we  proclaimed  the 
Monroe  Doctrine.  That  was  our  second  step;  and  to-day  we 
are  proposing  that,  leading  the  self-governing  nations  of  the 
world;  we  will  draw  a  ring  fence  around  the  world  and  allow 
no  aggressive  warfare  within  that. 

Exactly  as  we  made  small  states  as  safe  in  their  rights,  their 
liberties,  and  their  peace,  exactly  as  we  decided  that  we  would 
as  little  permit  San  Salvador  which  is  a  fraction  of  the  size  of 
Delaware,  to  be  invaded  by  a  foreign  foe  as  ourselves,  so,  fol- 
lowing the  same  policy,  unchanged  and  unalterable,  which  has 
come  down  to  us  from  the  fathers,  we  propose  that,  however 
small  the  country  may  be,  no  country  shall  ever  be  great  enough 
to  do  it  injustice  while  a  league  of  self-governing  states  stands 
to  guard  the  liberty  and  rights  of  men  and  of  nations  alike. 
That  is  the  great  task  to  which  we  have  set  ourselves,  and  we 
need  to  look  upon  this  war  as  no  accident  brought  on  by 
aggression.  When  we  decided  to  be  free  ourselves,  we  became 
the  enemies  of  the  king  business,  and  we  propose  now  to  end  the 
king  business,  once  and  for  all.  We  propose  that  never  again 
shall  it  be  possible  for  a  man  who  believes  himself  ruling  by 
divine  right  to  kindle  the  world  in  flames,  and  the  reason  why 
we  propose  to  do  that  is  because  it  is  as  immoral  and  impious 
for  a  man  to  look  upon  himself  as  called  and  born  of  divine 
right  to  rule  other  men  and  decide  their  destinies,  as  it  was 
for  those  who  believed  in  slavery  to  assert  that  there  were  men 
set  apart  to  serve  other  men  and  who  had  no  rights  which  other 
men  were  bound  to  respect.  Those  two  heresies  are  both  the 
same  heresy.  It  was  as  impious  and  immoral  to  assert  the 
divine  right  of  slavery  as  it  is  to-day  to  assert  the  divine  right 
of  kings,  and  the  same  tidal  forces  which  enabled  the  United 
States  to  sweep  slavery  off  the  face  of  the  earth,  those  same  tidal 
forces  and  the  stars  in  the  firmament  are  fighting  for  us  to-day 


240       ONE  HUNDRED  PER  CENT  AMERICAN 

and  will  enable  us  to  sweep  off  the  face  of  the  earth  the 
other  impious  and  immoral  heresy,  that  any  man  is  set  apart  by 
birth  and  divine  right  to  rule  his  fellow  man. 

This  is  the  great  task  which  we  have  to  accomplish.  We  are 
under  the  same  marching  orders,  with  the  same  determination, 
with  the  same  resolution,  and,  thank  God,  more  united  than  we 
have  ever  been  in  our  history.  If  you  will  turn  to  the  history 
of  the  Revolution,  you  will  find  that  at  that  time  there  were 
relatively  more  dissenters  than  there  are  to-day,  and  I  doubt 
very  much  whether  a  plebiscite  of  the  colonists  before  the  blow 
had  come  and  men  knew  what  was  before  them,  would  not  have 
decided  in  favor  of  that  insane  German  sovereign — not  the  only 
insane  or  semi-insane  German  sovereign  in  history — who  was 
known  as  George  III.  He  believed  in  divine  right  and  that 
he  could  carry  out  any  policy  which  he  chose  to  undertake.  He 
met  from  the  United  States  his  first  defeat,  and  another  insane 
German  sovereign  who  has  the  same  views  on  the  subject  is 
going  to  meet  exactly  the  same  defeat  in  the  same  way,  from  the 
same  land. 

I  hardly  think  we  realize,  as  we  look  back  on  the  heroic  past 
of  the  Civil  War,  against  what  odds  the  cause  of  union  and  free- 
dom was  won,  won  by  the  party  which  this  Club  represents,  won 
by  the  first  President  that  the  Republican  Party  elected.  Abra- 
ham Lincoln  has  come  to  be  the  hero,  the  model,  the  guide  of  all 
Americans,  without  distinction  of  party.  We  have  almost  for- 
gotten that  when  he  was  elected,  in  i860,  if  you  took  the  total 
vote  cast  for  all  the  candidates  and  matched  it  against  his,  his 
vote  was  600,000  behind  the  total  vote  cast,  before  any  State 
had  seceded  or  anybody  had  left  the  Union.  Taking  all  the 
States  together,  his  vote  of  1,800,000  was  600,000  short  of  the 
vote  which  was  cast  for  all  the  other  candidates  together.  The 
Democrats  were  on  the  side  of  slavery ;  the  party  as  a  whole  was 
pro-slavery ;  and  there  were  Americans  then  who  were  anxiously 
seeking  a  rat-hole  to  disappear  into,  without  saying  what  they 
believed  about  slavery,  one  way  or  the  other.  And  there  are 
people  in  this  country  to-day  who  are  seeking  anxiously  the  same 
rat-hole  in  regard  to  the  principles  of  this  war. 

Now,  even  in  the  North,  in  a  vote  of  about  3,000,000,  Abra- 
ham Lincoln  had,  of  all  the  candidates  a  majority  of  about 
260,000.  It  was  heavy  in  some  States;  it  was  light  in  others. 
California  was  a  State  which  had  an  overwhelming  Democratic 
vote,  but  that  vote  was  so  divided  that  under  the  laws  of  Cali- 
fornia the  electoral  vote  of  that  State  was  cast  for  Lincoln, 
and  I  could  run  through  the  list  of  the  Northern  States  and  show 
you  in  how  many  of  them  the  vote  for  Abraham  Lincoln  in 


THE  MORAL  ISSUES  OF  THE  WAR  241 

i860  was  in  its  total  smaller  than  the  total  vote  of  the  Demo- 
cratic candidates. 

The  election  in  November,  1862,  came  nearer  to  wrecking  the 
cause  of  liberty,  of  emancipation  and  of  the  Union  than  any 
battle  fought  by  the  Confederate  armies;  and  we  need  to  look 
like  perils  directly  in  the  face  now,  to  make  certain  that  every 
one  of  us  is  determined,  that  whatever  else  is  done,  this  war 
shall  be  fought  to  a  victorious  end. 

I  wonder  how  many  here  realize  that  in  the  great  State  of 
Ohio,  in  November,  1862,  when  Lincoln  had  just  issued  his 
Emancipation  Proclamation,  when  the  battle  of  Antietam  had 
driven  Lee  across  the  Potomac,  and  the  brief  chapter  of  defeats 
in  the  summer  of  1862  had  begun  to  register  the  great  succession 
of  victories  which  was  to  end  the  war  at  Appomattox,  that  in 
Ohio,  with  nineteen  Congressional  Districts,  fourteen  out  of  the 
nineteen  elected  men  on  an  avowed  peace  platform,  with  resolu- 
tions asking  in  each  Congressional  district  for  an  armistice,  the 
suspension  of  the  war,  and  peace  with  the  Confederate  States. 

In  Illinois,  a  legislature  was  elected  which,  in  both  branches, 
passed  peace  resolutions,  and  condemned  the  administration  of 
President  Lincoln  in  his  conduct  of  the  war. 

In  Connecticut,  in  New  Jersey,  in  New  York — alas,  in  New 
York, — in  Ohio,  in  Illinois,  the  State  election  went  in  favor  of  a 
peace  platform,  Maine  in  one  district  electing  a  peace  Democrat 
instead  of  a  fighting  Republican.  The  majorities  for  the  men 
who  supported  Lincoln  and  who  had  been  elected  in  i860  were 
cut  down,  taking  the  average  of  the  North,  from  one-half  to  one- 
tenth  of  what  they  had  been  in  i860.  I  speak  within  bounds 
when  I  say  that  those  elections  added  at  least  a  year  to  the  war ; 
and  of  the  million  lives  which  the  war  cost,  North  and  South, 
more  than  half  of  them  were  lost  after  that  election.  As  nearly 
as  I  can  make  out,  about  650,000  of  the  deaths  caused  by  the 
war  took  place  after  November,  1862.  If  every  political  party 
in  the  North,  without  distinction  as  to  its  previous  record,  had 
in  1862  closed  up  solid  behind  Victory,  the  prosecution  of  the 
War,  and  the  determination  that  no  peace  should  be  considered 
or  thought  of,  no  compromise  permitted,  excepting  the  emanci- 
pation of  the  slave,  and  the  sovereignty  of  the  Union  from 
the  Lakes  to  the  Gulf,  the  war  would  have  been  over  from  a  year 
to  a  year  and  a  half  earlier  than  it  otherwise  was.  Let  me  add 
to  all  these  things,  that  in  that  winter  a  mayor  of  New  York  City 
was  elected  by  the  vote  of  the  men  who  were  the  friends  of  the 
enemies  of  the  Republic. 

I  see  your  faces  sober  as  I  speak,  with  a  new  sense  of  the 
responsibility  of  American  citizenship.     We  drank  the  toast  to 


242      ONE  HUNDRED  PER  CENT  AMERICAN 

the  President  and  the  Army  and  Navy  of  the  United  States.  I 
think,  myself,  that  we  ought  no  longer  to  drink  a  toast  to  the 
"President  of  the  United  States;"  we  ought  to  drink  the  toast 
"To  the  Commander-in-Chief  of  the  Army  and  Navy  of  the 
United  States,  and  to  the  Army  and  Navy  which  he  commands." 
That  is  the  side  of  the  power  of  the  Chief  Executive  which  we 
should  think  of,  and  we  should  put  ourselves  on  record  to  that 
effect. 

As  I  have  already  said,  I  see  you  feel  a  new  sense  of  the 
responsibilities  of  the  Republic  at  war.  We  need  to  remember 
that  this  nation  has  never  looked  upon  peace  as  a  thing  to  have 
unless  we  were  ready  to  defend  it  by  the  sword;  and  when  we 
crowned  the  Capitol  with  the  figure  of  Liberty,  we  put  at  her 
side  the  sheathed  sword  as  she  looked  eastward  to  see  what 
enemies  might  come.  It  is  that  sword  which  this  country  drew 
ten  months  ago,  seeing  that  enemies  were  staying  our  passage 
on  the  seas,  which  is  now  consecrated  by  our  dead,  and  is  to 
be  glorified  by  returning  legions  as  they  come  back  with  victory 
in  their  hands. 

We  need  at  a  time  like  this,  not  only  to  remember  what  we 
would  wish  to  have  had  different,  but  what  has  been  also  actually 
accomplished.  It  is  ten  months  since  war  was  declared,  and  we 
have  to-day  more  soldiers — I  know  I  don't  betray  any  secret  in 
saying  this,  because  most  of  us  won't  be  able  to  remember  the 
figures — but  we  have  to-day  more  soldiers  in  France  than  Great 
Britain  had  in  May,  191 5,  ten  months  after  the  opening  of  the 
war  in  August,  1914,  with  an  army  ten-fold  as  large  as  ours  at 
our  entrance  on  this  war ;  if  you  include  all  forms  of  their  army 
and  all  forms  of  ours,  with  an  army  then,  in  1899,  five-fold  as 
large  as  ours,  we  have  at  the  end  of  ten  months  more  men  in 
France  than  Great  Britain  was  able  to  put  into  South  Africa  for 
the  Boer  War  in  ten  months.  I  rejoice  to  say  that  the  army  of 
the  United  States  is  to-day,  ten  months  after  we  entered,  occupy- 
ing within  a  trifle  as  many  miles  of  that  red  gash  which  is  cut 
across  the  face  of  Europe  by  the  trenches  of  the  Imperial  Ger- 
man Government,  as  were  occupied  by  the  British  in  ten  months. 
This  speaks  much  for  the  Republic,  and  most  of  all  for  the 
fashion  in  which  the  Party  which  was  once  opposed  to  President 
Wilson  while  he  was  a  candidate  and  will  probably  always  be  op- 
posed to  him  as  a  candidate,  rallied  behind  him  when  the  Provi- 
dence of  God  made  him  the  Commander-in-Chief  of  the  Army 
and  Navy  of  the  United  States. 

Never  in  the  history  of  representative  government,  never  in 
the  annals  of  representative  institutions,  has  there  been  an  equal 
instance  of  the  throwing  aside  of  all  past  party  affiliations  and  a 


THE  MORAL  ISSUES  OF  THE  WAR  MS 

like  readiness  on  the  part  of  every  man  to  stand  behind  the  man 
who  is  waging  the  battle  of  civilization.  If  it  had  not  been  for 
that,  if  the  Republic  in  this  day  had  been  as  divided  in  these 
matters  as  it  was  between  1776  and  1784,  and  between  1861 
and  1865,  in  all  human  prospect  and  possibility,  the  Imperial 
German  Army  would  be  to-day  in  Paris ;  for  what  has  kept  it  out 
of  Paris  has  been  the  new  strength  which  was  given  to  the 
armies  of  the  Allies  in  France  by  the  certainty  that  overwhelming 
aid  was  to  come  across  the  sea. 

There  needs  must  be  an  election  next  November.  We  have 
to  stand  by  the  principles  which  we  believe  are  necessary  to  this 
government;  but  I  have  recited  these  facts  before  a  body  of 
men,  even  on  an  inclement  day  like  this,  singularly  representative 
of  the  best  political  thought  of  this  city,  because  we  need  to  be 
guided  by  the  example  of  the  past,  and  to  be  certain  that  our 
elections  be  so  conducted  that  there  shall  be  no  flicker  of  en- 
couragement the  "Tuesday  after  the  first  Monday"  of  next 
November  among  the  "Predatory  Potsdam  Gang!"  Whatever 
else  we  do,  we  want  to  be  certain  that  none  of  those  men  will  be 
elected  whose  election  gives  encouragemnt  to  the  enemies  of  the 
Republic. 

We  have  another  duty  to  discharge,  a  duty  as  great  as  that 
of  winning  the  war,  which  is  the  indispensable  necessity  of  the 
future.  Who  does  not  realize  that  as  Belgium  kept  the  gate  for 
France,  and  as  France  kept  the  gate  for  England,  and  as  England 
is  to-day,  with  France,  Italy  and  Belgium,  keeping  the  gate  for 
the  American  Republic,  that  this  is  only  to  throw  the  gate  open, 
that  through  it  victorious  legions  may  pass,  with  the  future  of  the 
world  assured? 

And  I  wish  to  say,  simply  in  passing,  that  for  years  it  has 
been  part  of  my  duty  to  write  about  military  affairs  and  to  study 
the  military  situation ;  that  this  war  I  am  not  only  following  day 
by  day,  but  that  I  have  used  every  possible  means  to  acquaint 
myself  with  it,  because  I  lecture  upon  it  as  part  of  my  du- 
ties in  training  journalists,  and  I  am  glad  to  say  that  of 
the  men  who  have  registered  in  the  School  of  Journalism  since 
it  was  opened  in  October,  1912,  to-day  thirty  per  cent,  are 
in  khaki,  and  a  dozen  of  them  are  in  the  trenches  at  this  present 
moment. 

Now,  taking  that  view,  there  never  was  a  time  when  the 
victory  of  the  Allies  was  so  certain  as  it  is  to-day.  I  was  asked 
the  other  day  when  the  war  would  end,  and  I  tell  you  now 
what  I  said  then,  that  this  war  will  end  when  the  American 
people  has  done  its  complete  duty.  These  two  things  are  abso- 
lutely certain ;  both  that  the  American  people  will  do  its  complete 


244   ONE  HUNDRED  PER  CENT  AMERICAN 

duty,  and  that  the  war  will  be  over  when  it  has  done  its  com- 
plete duty.  It  may  take  time ;  it  will  take  time ;  but  done  both 
will  be. 

I  wonder  if  you  realize  that  this  year,  no  matter  if  the  sub- 
marine sinkings  exceed  the  tonnage  of  any  past  year,  December 
will  find  more  tonnage  afloat  than  was  afloat  in  January  of  this 
year?  I  wonder  if  you  realize  that  in  1919,  by  the  end  of  the 
year,  the  tonnage  at  the  command  of  the  Allies  will  be  three  mil- 
lion tons  ahead,  though  the  submarines  were  to  continue  to 
destroy  them  as  fast  as  they  have  in  the  past;  and  that  by  1920, 
taking  the  way  tonnage  is  being  planned  and  built,  it  will  be 
possible  for  the  United  States  to  do  as  it  pleases,  to  put  four 
million  men  in  France,  added  to  the  two  million  that  will  be 
there,  and  if  we  put  eleven  million  men  in  France,  we  shall  have 
only  equalled  the  number  of  men  which  eighteen  millions  in  the 
North  put  in  the  battle  line  between  1861  and  1865.  The  sacri- 
fice of  that  day  must  be  the  measure  of  our  devotion  to-day  to  the 
Republic. 

Since  victory  is  certain,  I  want  to  ask  you  to  consider  our 
responsibility  with  regard  to  the  fruits  of  victory.  Victory  is 
certain,  but  whether  the  fruits  of  victory  are  won  and  lasting 
depends  on  the  American  people  and  depends  more  than  any 
other  group  of  men  upon  those  who  represent  what  the  men  who 
are  within  this  room  represent,  the  sober,  clear,  loyal,  thinking 
of  the  Republican  Party;  for  the  great  question  which  faces  the 
Allies,  our  allies  in  Europe  to-day,  in  considering  the  future,  is : 
"How  far,  after  the  war  is  won,  the  United  States  will  dis- 
charge its  responsibilities?" 

I  will  put  concretely  before  you  a  fact  which  is  simmering 
under  the  surface  of  affairs.  The  Allies,  our  allies,  have  con- 
quered already  about  one-fourth  of  the  Ottoman  Empire.  It  is 
certain  that  after  victory  comes,  the  fate  of  the  Ottoman  Empire 
will  be  in  the  hands  of  the  Peace  Conference,  and  at  that  Peace 
Conference  the  United  States  will  be,  as  the  United  States  has 
been  since  it  entered  the  war,  the  leader  of  the  thought,  prin- 
ciple and  action  of  the  allied  forces  of  freedom.  Now,  what  is 
being  proposed  on  the  other  side  and  talked  about,  but  which 
is  not  yet  in  the  newspapers  on  either  side  of  the  water,  is  this : 
Here  is  the  Ottoman  Empire,  with  no  one  race  or  faith  in  a 
majority,  except  that  several  of  the  races  are  Mohammedan  and 
Mohammedan  rule  has  made  such  a  mess  of  the  business  of  gov- 
ernment, as  the  million  men,  women  and  children  slaughtered  in 
massacre  for  two  years  past  show,  that  it  is  not  possible  to  put 
Mohammedans  back  in  power.  There  is  no  other  element  in  the 
Ottoman  Empire  which  can  take  charge  of  the  government.     If 


THE  MORAL  ISSUES  OF  THE  WAR  245 

it  is  put  in  the  hands  of  any  one  of  the  European  powers,  the  mo- 
ment peace  has  come  and  old  jealousies  revive,  every  other  Euro- 
pean power  will  begin  to  suspect  everything  that  that  country 
does.  If  you  divide  the  Ottoman  Empire,  every  one  of  the  new 
frontiers  will  offer  a  new  chance  for  aggression  and  you  will  in- 
crease the  possibility  of  war,  and  war  will  finally  be  made  certain 
as  it  has  been  by  the  division  of  the  Balkan  Peninsula,  into  four 
states  which  have  shown  themselves  unable  to  continue  self-gov- 
ernment, while  under  the  necessity  of  arming  against  constant 
assault  from  without  and  ambition  from  within. 

Now,  it  would  be  possible,  if  the  American  people  chose  to 
assume  the  responsibility,  to  do  for  the  Ottoman  Empire  exactly 
what  we  have  done  for  the  Philippines,  to  put  in  there  a  small 
force  to  organize  a  constabulary  officered  by  Americans,  but 
made  up  of  the  various  races  of  the  Ottoman  Empire,  to  conduct 
its  affairs  with  perfect  justice  and  impartiality,  though  there 
would  be  a  period  in  which  outlawry,  which  is  rife  over  parts  of 
the  Ottoman  Empire,  would  have  to  be  suppressed.  And  I 
want  to  say  that  pretty  nearly  all  the  flub-dub  and  camouflage 
we  heard  about  the  fight  for  freedom  in  the  Philippines  between 
1898  and  1902  was  nearly  all  the  pillage  and  plunder  of  village 
bandits,  trying  to  preserve  the  oppression  and  personal  profit 
permitted  under  Spanish  rule. 

In  another  year,  it  will  be  a  hundred  years  since  the  Amer- 
ican missionary  first  appeared  in  the  Ottoman  Empire.  Within 
that  time  he  has  established  all  the  higher  education  that  the 
Ottoman  Empire  has.  He  has  planted  hospitals  in  nearly  all 
the  large  cities  but  one;  he  has  not  only  preached  the  Gospel, 
but  he  has  virtually  raised  the  educational  standards  of  the 
Empire,  not  only  for  the  men  and  women  he  was  brought  into 
the  churches  he  has  founded,  but  for  nearly  all  the  higher 
education  of  the  Ottoman  Empire  too.  For  a  century,  we  and 
we  alone  of  all  lands  have  been  known  alone  for  works  of  heal- 
ing, of  mercy,  of  charity  and  of  teaching. 

There  is  not  a  race  in  Turkey — and  I  was  myself  born  in 
Turkey,  lived  there  the  first  sixteen  years  of  my  life,  speak  one  of 
the  languages  that  are  spoken  there,  and  am  meeting  people  from 
the  Ottoman  Empire  every  day  of  my  life — which  would  not 
prefer  a  protectorate  by  this  country  if  the  United  States  were 
willing  to  assume  a  responsibility  of  that  sort.  After  a  year  or 
two  in  which  peace  was  being  restored,  which  would  never  re- 
quire anything  like  the  force  which  we  had  to  put  in  the  Philip- 
pines, there  would  not  be  enough  news  out  of  the  Ottoman 
Empire  in  ten  years  to  give  a  first  page  display  once  a  year 
in  any  newspaper  in  this  city.    All  sides  of  the  Ottoman  Empire 


246       ONE  HUNDRED  PER  CENT  AMERICAN 

and  every  European  people  would  rather  have  us  there  than  any 
one  else,  though  you  were  to  run  through  the  whole  catechism  of 
the  European  situation.  Whether  the  call  for  this  responsibility 
will  come  or  not,  I  do  not  know;  but  if  it  does  come,  will  the 
American  people,  having  put  their  hands  to  the  plow  which 
they  are  going  to  drive  through  the  furrow  until  the  seeds  of 
liberty  have  been  sown  in  every  country  in  the  world,  will  our 
people  be  willing  to  stay  and  reap  the  harvest  of  assured  liberty, 
by  assuming  new  responsibilities  for  a  territory  like  the  Ottoman 
Empire,  not  for  rule  or  ambition,  but  solely  training  it  for  liberty 
and  self-government? 

In  regard  to  its  demand  for  defense  that  would  be  guaran- 
teed by  our  treaties  in  a  League  to  Enforce  Peace;  but  the 
responsibilities  of  order  and  the  growth  of  liberty  would  be  ours 
if  the  Republic  were  willing.  Why  are  we  thus  trusted?  I 
wonder  if  you  realize  that  never  before  in  history  did  it  happen 
that  a  principality,  a  region  as  fertile,  as  full  of  wealth  as 
Cuba,  was  conquered,  lay  in  the  grasp  and  power  of  a  great 
nation,  and  then  was  turned  over  to  its  own  people  to  work 
out  their  own  destiny?  The  Declaration  of  Independence  was 
not  a  greater  act  than  this  free  surrender  of  one  of  the  great 
prizes  of  conquest.  That  is  one  of  the  reasons  why  this  country, 
never  selfish,  always  willing  to  make  sacrifices,  has  in  its  record 
in  Cuba,  a  capital  asset  in  the  confidence  of  the  world,  which 
no  nation  has  ever  had  in  all  the  annals  of  war  or  peace.  Now, 
will  the  Republic  be  able,  will  you  be  willing,  to  lay  that  asset 
on  the  altar  of  freedom,  to  do  our  part  to  prevent  wars  over 
these  pieces  of  coveted  territory?  If  it  is,  then  the  problems  of 
Asia  will  be  solved.  First  for  the  Ottoman  Empire,  and  then  for 
Persia,  and  finally  for  China  itself,  these  all  will  emerge  as  self- 
governing,  liberty-loving  lands. 

Abroad,  while  the  better  public  opinion  of  the  allied  peoples 
favor  some  such  policy — opposed  though  it  is  sure  to  be  by 
national  ambition,  public  policy  and  those  in  England,  France 
and  Italy  already  holding  concessions  and  conducting  enter- 
prises in  the  Ottoman,  the  proposal  is  still  mere  suggestion  be- 
cause no  one  believes  that  when  the  war  is  won,  the  American 
people  will  put  its  soul  and  strength,  its  men  and  its  resources 
behind  any  far-sighted  policy  for  the  world's  peace  and  the  pro- 
tection of  lands  that  can  be  exploited  from  the  spoils.  Take 
the  Monroe  Doctrine;  it  was  over  forty  years,  from  the  time 
President  Monroe  launched  the  doctrine,  before  Congress  backed 
it  in  a  resolution  ordering  Emperor  Maximilian  out  of  Mexico 
and  warning  Napoleon  III  that  the  French  troops  that  were 
supporting  him  should  leave  forthwith.    During  all  that  forty-two 


THE  MORAL  ISSUES  OF  THE  WAR  2*7 

years,  from  1823  to  1865,  Congress  took  no  action  on  the  Monroe 
Doctrine  because  it  was  perfectly  well  understood  that  if  the 
issue  came  to  a  vote,  though  every  President  from  Monroe  to 
Lincoln  had  supported  the  national  policy  of  the  former  Con- 
gressmen, Senators  and  Representatives,  both,  would  not  risk 
their  seats  on  a  vote  for  an  aggressive  national  policy. 

Even  when  the  Government  at  Washington  sent  General 
Sheridan  and  50,000  men  to  the  Rio  Grande  our  active  aid  con- 
sisted in  leaving  rifles  and  cartridges,  batteries  and  ammunition, 
where  the  forces  of  Juarez,  driven  to  the  farthest  corner  of 
Mexico,  could  find  them.  General  Sheridan  himself  reported 
that  a  warehouse  full  of  arms  "guarded  by  a  sergeant  had  been 
seized  and  carried  off  on  the  Rio  Grande."  From  the  fall  of 
Maximilian,  solely  due  to  our  action  to  1868,  our  Government 
declined  to  assume  all  the  responsibilities  that  were  thrust  upon 
it  opening  the  door  to  the  salvation  of  Latin-America.  These 
refusals  to  act  when  the  call  came  are  not  familiar  because  our 
public  opinion  and  our  newspapers  were  opposed  to  more  than 
a  negative  support  of  the  Monroe  Doctrine.  There  are  unwritten 
and  not  creditable  chapters  in  our  diplomacy  known  only  to  the 
State  Department  and  to  newspaper  men  like  myself  who  be- 
lieved that  the  United  States  ought  to  meet  permanent  and 
positive  duties  and  obligations  in  the  hemisphere  it  guarded  and 
not  content  itself  with  simply  hanging  out  on  the  Atlantic  a 
sign  of  "No  Trespassing,"  which  could  be  read  across  the 
ocean  in  the  glare  of  our  naval  searchlights,  when  we  had  any 
afloat. 

I  first  knew  what  Spanish  rule  meant,  when,  as  a  reporter  on 
the  New  York  "World"  I  wrote  up  the  New  York  end  of  the 
Virginias  affair  in  1873.  I  learned  as  correspondent  at  Wash- 
ington first  for  the  "World,"  then  for  the  New  York  "Sun,"  and 
later  for  the  Philadelphia  "Press,"  in  October,  1873. 

When  the  Virginius  was  seized  and  Captain  Frye,  a  gallant 
Confederate  officer,  and  48  Americans  were  shot  against  the  wall 
of  a  slaughter  house  at  Santiago,  we  could  have  freed  Cuba., 
and  again  in  1878  the  opportunity  was  presented  to  us,  and  we 
hesitated,  and  twenty  needless  years  of  cruel  wrong  passed  before 
we  acted.  That  great  man,  Secretary  Blaine — alas,  that  that 
should  be  the  highest  title  that  I  can  give  him  before  you — Sec- 
retary Blaine  (I  speak  here  of  personal  knowledge)  showed  me 
the  dispatch,  instructions  and  agreement  which  had  been  reached 
in  1881  with  Argentine  and  Brazil.  They  agreed  to  mobilize 
their  forces  to  check  Chili's  ruthless  conquest.  We  were  to  send 
a  fleet  off  the  Western  coast  of  South  America.  The  full  proposi- 
tion was  that  Chili,  which  had  seized  two  Peruvian  provinces 


248       ONE  HUNDRED  PER  CENT  AMERICAN 

and  proposed  to  take  them,  in  defiance  of  the  unbroken  usage 
and  common  law  of  South  American  States  that  no  territory 
should  be  transferred  breaking  old  boundary,  was  to  be  forced 
to  submit  to  the  general  demand  that  there  should  be  an  arbitra- 
tion as  to  the  right  of  that  nation  to  have  the  Nitrate  of  Tarapaca, 
Tacna,  Arica  and  Bolivian  territory,  shutting  that  Republic  from 
the  sea. 

Those  territories  gave  sixty  per  cent,  of  their  exports  of  niter 
to  Germany  in  the  five  years  before  this  war,  and  this  was  one  of 
the  most  important  preparations  that  Germany  made.  It  had  been 
absorbing  between  25  and  30  per  cent,  of  the  production  of  niter, 
and  just  before  1912  it  took  in  60  per  cent.,  accumulating  the 
stock  of  niter  on  which  it  was  able  to  carry  on  its  manufacture 
of  explosives,  until  it  discovered  a  cheap  way  of  taking  niter  out 
of  the  air.  If  the  action  Blaine  proposed  had  been  taken,  we 
would  not  have  to-day  Chili  neutral  in  a  contest  where  neutrality 
is  perfidy  to  liberty,  and  ought  never  to  be  allowed  on  the  Western 
Hemisphere. 

Again,  in  1881,  we  could  have  freed  Cuba,  for  Cuba  was  or- 
ganized for  revolt,  and  all  that  was  necessary  was  to  prevent 
the  Spanish  troops  from  being  reinforced  to  free  Cuba  and  we 
waited  until  1898,  with  our  ports  yearly  ravaged  with  yellow 
fever.  Blaine  again  urged  action ;  the  country  was  indifferent 
and  President  Arthur  did  not  feel  justified  in  acting. 

We,  first  of  all  nations,  recognized  the  Congo  Free  State 
in  1885,  and  when  we  had  done  that  we  could  and  should  have 
stopped  Leopold,  in  whose  exploiting  companies  Germans  of 
high  place  held  shares  which  paid  one  hundred  per  cent,  divi- 
dends at  the  cost  of  the  death  of  6,000,000  blacks,  slain  to  pay 
those  blood-stained  profits — Leopold  was  a  "financier"  on  the 
Berlin  plan.  Committed,  for  over  sixty  years,  to  a  moral  protec- 
torate of  the  west  coast  of  Africa,  we  could  have  used  our  moral 
power  and  said  to  Leopold  that  butchery  in  a  new  country 
which  we  had  recognized  must  stop  and  if  it  continued  we  would 
put  our  fleet  off  the  West  Coast  of  Africa  and  ended  the  thing 
by  blockading  the  ports  of  that  artificial  creation,  the  Congo 
Free  State. 

In  1895-96,  after  one  hundred  thousand  Armenians  were  mas- 
sacred and  two  of  our  colleges  had  been  burned  down,  if  we 
had  thrown  our  moral  force  into  the  struggle,  we  could  have 
enabled  France,  England  and  Italy  to  have  enforced  the  Treaty 
of  Berlin,  when  the  Imperial  German  Government,  as  its  first 
step  towards  the  present  war,  protected  the  worst  miscreant  in 
history,  who  has  ever  sat  on  a  throne,  Abdul  Hamid. 

We  gave  over  in  1898  the  Caroline  Islands  to  Germany,  be- 


THE  MORAL  ISSUES  OF  THE  WAR  249 

cause  we  wanted  to  placate  Germany  after  she  sent  a  fleet  to 
seize  the  Philippines.  What  is  the  result  ?  Japan  occupies  them 
to-day  because  at  that  moment  we  did  not  assert  ourselves. 

We  had  owned  the  Samoan  Islands  under  a  treaty  which  Grant 
negotiated  but  which  the  Senate  refused  to  ratify  and  through 
all  the  thirty  years  our  people  have  been  bickering  over  our 
taking  the  Samoan  Islands.  What  is  the  result?  In  1900  we 
turned  one  of  them  over  to  Germany.  We  gave  Samoa  to  Ger- 
many. The  Kaiser  paid  a  visit  to  his  grandmother,  Queen  Vic- 
toria, in  1900,  to  show  he  would  not  interfere  in  the  Boer  War, 
and  Queen  Victoria's  government  gave  us  changes  in  the  Clayton- 
Bulwer  treaty  over  the  head  of  Canada.  The  Kaiser  gave  away 
the  Boers,  England  gave  away  Canada,  and  we  gave  away  an 
island  in  Samoa.  We  all  gave  away  what  did  not  belong  to 
us,  in  order  to  bring  on  the  peace  which  brought  on  the  present 
war! 

In  San  Domingo  and  Haiti  we  did  what  we  ought  to  have 
done.  An  American  President  took  the  matter  into  his  own 
hands  in  the  Venezuelan  question.  You  will  all  remember  the 
fashion  in  which  a  flat  declaration  was  made  by  President  Cleve- 
land to  England :  "You  can't  adjust  a  boundary  on  the  Western 
Hemisphere  without  arbitration.  If  you  attempt  to  do  it,  we 
shall  go  to  war."  Business  elements  protested  that  had  never 
protested  before  and  it  was  clear  that  this  country  had  a  strong 
opposing  sentiment. 

At  Algeciras,  when  the  Morocco  question  came  up  in  1906, 
what  took  place?  We  instructed  out  representative,  a  most  able 
diplomatist,  Mr.  Henry  White,  and  he  adjusted  a  fair  arrange- 
ment with  reference  to  Morocco.  The  arrangement  dropped  to 
pieces  because,  after  it  was  done,  we  were  unwilling  to  step  in  and 
enforce  that  arrangement.  If  that  had  been  done,  it  would  not 
have  been  possible  for  Germany  to  go  on  harrying  France  until 
this  war  came,  because  it  would  have  been  perfectly  clear  that 
the  great  Republic  of  the  West  was  ready  to  use  its  power  in 
favor  of  the  right,  wherever  it  was  threatened. 

Once  we  did  do  this.  The  German  fleet  was  on  its  way  to 
seize  a  port  in  Venezuela,  when  President  Roosevelt  gave  the 
Kaiser  forty-eight  hours  to  change  his  mind,  and  it  didn't  take  him 
forty-eight  hours.  If  the  Kaiser  had  known  what  this  people 
was  ready  to  do,  he  would  not  have  believed  the  lies  of  the 
German  newspapers  subsidized  in  the  United  States — paid  in 
order  that  the  German  Government  might  be  able  to  inform  itself 
about  the  opinion  of  the  United  States.  After  Germany  had 
made  that  costly  bargain,  its  Government  decided  that  our 
German-American  citizens,  who  have  proved  loyal  to  the  core, 


250       ONE  HUNDRED  PER  CENT  AMERICAN 

would  break  faith  with  the  Republic  to  which  they  had  sworn 
allegiance. 

I  lay  these  matters  before  you.  I  ask  you  to  think  of  these 
two  things :  the  necessity  that  we  shall  so  conduct  ourselves  that 
no  enemy  of  the  Republic  shall  receive  any  encouragement  from 
any  act  or  vote  of  ours  next  November;  and  the  second,  that 
we  shall  so  educate  our  fellow-citizens,  that  when  destiny  again 
calls  they  will  answer  the  call  to  duty  of  the  Republic,  so  that 
having  set  victorious  feet  on  foreign  shores  and  vindicated  the 
liberty  and  preserved  the  civilization  of  the  world,  we  shall  be 
willing  to  enter  a  league  to  enforce  peace,  to  preserve  peace  and 
these  liberties;  and,  that  since  we  are  the  one  unselfish  power 
of  the  world,  we  should  be  willing  unselfishly  to  take  the  guard- 
ianship of  weak  nations  which  have  been  the  cause  of  woes 
innumerable,  and  have  brought  on  this  war,  because  the  United 
States  is  the  only  country  which  all  countries  trust. 


SEVENTH   DISCUSSION 

FEBRUARY   SIXTEENTH,    I918 
UNITED   STATES  AND  ITS  RESPONSIBILITIES 


UNITED  STATES  AND  ITS  RESPONSIBILITIES 

ONE:     MR.  JAMES  S.  LEHMAIER'S  INTRODUCTION  OF 
MLLE.  SILVERCRUYS. 

It  is  just  one  year  ago  this  month  that  the  Secretary  of  State, 
at  the  direction  of  the  President  of  the  United  States,  handed  his 
passports  to  the  Imperial  German  Ambassador  at  Washington. 
That  action  was  taken  only  after  the  most  careful  and  deliberate 
consideration.  For  two  years  and  a  half,  this  great  neutral 
nation  of  America  had  endured  a  series  of  outrages,  intrigues, 
arson  and  murder  at  the  hands  of  Germany  and  her  diplomatic 
agents  in  this  country,  who  disregarded  the  obligations  due  to 
the  hospitality  which  we  had  extended  to  them — a  series  of 
outrages  such  as  no  nation  having  the  power  to  resist  had  ever 
endured  at  the  hands  of  another. 

Beyond  that,  the  German  Government  had  offered  to  Mexico 
and  to  Japan  as  bribes  to  join  it  in  war  upon  this  country, 
portions  of  our  own  free  domain.  It  was  this  accumulated  aggre- 
gation of  outrages  and  insults  that  finally  forced  this  peace- 
loving  country  into  the  attitude  of  a  belligerent.  Almost  unani- 
mously the  people  of  the  United  States,  from  the  very  outset  of 
the  world  war,  although  the  Government  was  formally  neutral, 
never  wavered  for  a  moment  in  their  conviction  that  the  cause 
of  the  Allies  was  just  and  righteous. 

I  speak  as  one  of  a  number  of  men  in  this  room  whose  sons 
are  at  the  front,  when  I  say  that  we  re-echo  the  sentiment  ex- 
pressed by  Professor  Hart  here  two  weeks  ago,  that,  infinitely 
precious  as  it  would  be  to  have  our  sons  return  to  us,  there  is  a 
greater  stake  at  issue  in  this  war  than  even  the  lives  of  our  own 
sons.  Thank  God,  the  spirit  that  animates  the  men  and  women 
of  America  is  that  of  the  Roman  matron  who,  when  sending  her 
son  to  battle,  said,  "Return  with  your  shield,  or  on  it." 

We  are  grateful  to  the  brave  and  courageous  soldiers  and 
sailors  of  France,  to  the  brave  and  determined  and  liberty-loving 
soldiers  and  sailors  of  Great  Britain,  who,  for  three  years  and  a 
half,  have  stood  between  us  and  the  aggression  of  German  autoc- 
racy; but  more  than  that,  in  a  higher  sense  than  that,  we  are 

253 


254   ONE  HUNDRED  PER  CENT  AMERICAN 

under  everlasting  obligation  to  that  little  Belgian  army  which, 
during  those  fourteen  fateful  days  in  August,  19 14,  withstood 
the  legions  of  Germany  and  made  it  possible  for  Great  Britain 
and  France  to  mobilize  their  forces  so  that  the  Battle  of  the 
Marne  marked  the  highest  tide  that  German  aggression  has 
reached  or  will  ever  reach. 

We  recall,  as  the  world  will  always  recall,  the  magnificent  fig- 
ures of  that  Spartan  band  that  stood  and  held  the  Pass  at  Ther- 
mopylae ;  our  admiration  has  ever  been  challenged  by  the  bravery 
of  the  Six  Hundred  who  rode  into  the  very  jaws  of  Hell  at 
Balaklava;  but  as  long  as  valor  and  chivalry  and  bravery  and 
courage  are  esteemed  cardinal  virtues,  that  little  army  of  the 
truly  royal  King  Albert  of  Belgium  will  always  be  regarded  as 
the  greatest  champions  of  freedom  and  saviours  of  democracy. 

Not  content  with  devastating  the  beautiful  plains  of  Flanders, 
not  content  with  ruling  with  autocratic  and  despotic  hand  the 
population  of  Belgium,  the  non-combatants  of  that  little  country 
have  been  subjected  to  murder,  outrage,  rape  and  deportation 
such  as  have  never  before  been  visited  on  a  subjugated  people. 
When  the  history  of  these  years  comes  to  be  written,  the  names 
of  Attila  and  Genghis  Khan  will  be  regarded  as  those  of  gentle 
and  kindly  rulers  as  compared  with  that  of  the  present  German 
Kaiser. 

One  figure  stands  out  beside  that  of  King  Albert,  that  of  that 
priest,  that  great  prelate  who  with  simple  dignity,  has  fostered  and 
sustained  his  people  and  his  countrymen  in  their  trials,  the  figure 
of  Cardinal  Mercier. 

You  will  hear  this  afternoon  from  a  young  girl  still  in  her 
teens,  but  made  a  woman  by  what  she  has  herself  experienced 
and  seen  in  her  own  country,  the  story  of  the  German  invasion 
of  Belgium.  You  will  hear  in  simple,  photographic  language,  the 
plain,  unvarnished  story  of  Germany's  shame,  and  as  you  hear 
it,  I  am  sure  that  you  will  feel,  as  all  Americans  must  feel,  that 
this  war  can  never  cease,  must  never  end,  until  Belgium  has  not 
only  been  evacuated  and  restored,  but  adequately  compensated. 
When  Belgium,  Serbia,  Rumania  and  France  have  been  re- 
deemed and  compensated,  when  Alsace  and  Lorraine,  wickedly 
wrested  from  France  in  1871,  are  returned,  when  Russia  is  freed 
from  strangulation  and  every  section  of  that  vast  dominion  is 
liberated  from  its  political  and  economic  thraldom  to  Germany; 
then,  and  not  until  then,  can  American  freemen  stand  erect. 

It  is  my  very  great,  my  very  deep  pleasure,  to  introduce 
to  you  a  young  lady  who  comes  from  that  beloved  country 
of  Belgium,  herself  the  daughter  of  the  Chief  Justice  of 
that  brave  little  country,  who  will  tell  you  the  plain  and  simple 


UNITED  STATES  AND  ITS  RESPONSIBILITIES     255 

tale    of    what    Belgians    have    endured    under    German    rule. 


TWO:     BY  MADEMOISELLE  SUZANNE  SILVERCRUYS 

Daughter  of  the  Chief  Justice  of  Belgium 

When  the  war  broke  out,  I  was  staying  with  my  parents  in 
our  country  home  which  is  about  twenty  miles  from  the  Fortress 
of  Liege  and  very  near  the  Dutch  frontier.  Even  when  our  men 
were  called  away,  even  when  our  horses  and  machines  were 
taken  away  by  the  Government,  even  when  the  ultimatum  of  the 
Kaiser  was  sent  to  our  King,  even  then  we  could  not  believe,  we 
would  not  believe,  that  the  Germans  would  really  violate  our 
neutrality. 

But  on  the  fourth  of  August,  in  the  afternoon,  I  was  playing 
outside  with  some  spaniel  dogs,  when  I  heard  the  first  gun-shots. 
I  did  not  know  what  it  was,  never  having  heard  any  guns  before ; 
so  I  went  inside  the  house  to  call  my  father ;  but  by  that  time  it 
had  stopped,  so  we  went  inside  the  house  for  dinner.  After  din- 
ner, we  walked  to  a  nearby  town  and  when  we  were  there  at  that 
little  town,  we  heard  very  clearly  the  gun-shots.  It  was  so  clear 
that  you  could  tell  the  difference  between  the  German  guns  and 
the  Belgian  guns.  The  women  were  running  wildly  all  over  that 
little  city — they  were  crying  and  screaming.  They  came  to  my 
father  and  asked  him  what  it  was.  He  said,  "The  Germans  have 
violated  our  neutrality ;  what  you  hear  is  the  voice  of  the  country 
calling  for  defense."  And  we  walked  home,  over  that  lonely 
road,  under  the  moonlight.  The  stars  were  shining  and  every- 
thing seemed  so  peaceful,  that  we  could  not  believe  that  the  coun- 
try was  at  war,  if  it  had  not  been  for  the  roaring  of  the  guns 
going  all  the  time.  As  we  entered  the  house  and  opened  the 
door,  we  heard  moaning.  It  was  my  mother  in  despair,  because 
my  brother,  the  only  son  in  the  family,  was  in  the  first  regiment 
who  met  the  Germans  at  Liege.  That  morning  we  received  a 
card  from  him,  in  which  he  said,  "Our  regiment  has  been  directed 
towards  the  fortress  of  Liege,  but  I  don't  think  the  Germans 
will  come  after  all ;  it  is  only  bluff." 

But  that  night,  at  the  open  window,  we  listened  to  the  guns, 
and  every  gun-shot  was  stabbing  every  one  of  us  in  the  heart, 
because  we  knew  every  gun-shot  was  killing  one  of  our  boys, 
one  of  those  little  Belgian  boys  holding  the  Germans  there  at 
Liege,  and  they  held  them  for  eight  days. 

Next  morning  we  tried  to  escape.  My  father  realized  he  had 
to  be  back  at  the  Capital.    We  went  to  the  station  and  found  the 


256       ONE  HUNDRED  PER  CENT  AMERICAN 

last  train  had  left.  The  railroad  line  was  cut  up  by  the  Uhlans. 
That  night  we  tried  to  find  our  horses  and  wagons  to  load  up 
during  the  night.  There  were  none  in  the  whole  country  round. 
At  four  o'clock  in  the  morning,  a  man  ran  in  from  town  and 
told  us  there  was  a  street  car  leaving,  and  we  tried  to  leave  that 
way.  I  very  foolishly  said,  ''We  must  take  with  us  our  spaniel 
dogs."  We  traveled  in  street  cars  from  four  o'clock  in  the  morn- 
ing until  twelve,  traveling  from  village  to  village,  until  at  twelve 
o'clock  we  got  into  the  place  where  the  Belgian  soldiers  used  to  be 
trained  during  the  summer  generally.  As  we  got  there  we  saw 
boards  and  stones  in  the  middle  of  the  street,  and  they  hollered 
to  us,  "Run  away,  because  the  Germans  are  coming  and  they 
will  shoot."  We  ran  into  the  station.  A  man  ran  in  and  told  us 
the  last  train  was  pulling  in,  that  the  Uhlans  were  about  two 
hundred  yards  from  there. 

We  finally  got  to  Louvain  at  five  o'clock  in  the  afternoon. 
When  we  got  there  the  King  was  at  Louvain  and  fresh  troops 
were  going  away  to  the  front.  We  finally  got  a  train,  a  train  full 
of  refugees.  People  were  there  with  all  their  belongings  in  a 
sheet,  carrying  calves,  cats,  dogs,  bird-cages,  everything  imagina- 
ble. We  finally  got  to  Brussels,  and  naturally  the  dogs  were  lost. 
Daddy  tried  to  find  them,  and  mother  and  I  sat  on  a  station  bench. 
And  suddenly  I  saw  all  the  people  rushing  toward  something. 
I  stood  up  and  saw  stretchers  and  I  realized  that  those  were  the 
first  wounded  brought  into  Brussels,  and  I  knew  if  my  mother  saw 
she  would  not  be  able  to  stand  it;  so  I  told  her  I  was  hungry 
and  we  went  to  the  restaurant,  and  while  she  was  ordering  some- 
thing I  went  out  and  made  my  way  through  the  crowds  till  I 
reached  the  wounded  soldiers.  I  bent  over  each  of  the  wounded, 
hoping  to  find  my  brother  there,  because  I  knew  if  he  was 
wounded  her,  he  would  not  be  lying  among  the  dead  at  Liege. 

There  they  were,  lying  there,  those  little  heroes  of  Belgium, 
full  of  mud  and  blood,  and  one  of  those  men  I  shall  remember  as 
long  as  I  live.  As  I  was  looking,  the  blood  was  dripping  from 
the  side  of  his  head.  He  was  from  the  Ninth  Regiment,  and 
just  as  I  was  bending  over  him,  the  young  recruits  were  going 
away  to  the  front,  singing  their  national  anthem  and  carrying 
our  national  flag.  And  this  man  heard  the  song  that  he  knew 
and  loved  and  he  tried  to  get  up  and  salute  the  flag,  but  he  could 
not.  And  they  passed  and  they  passed  and  they  passed.  And 
then  some  of  them  came  who  were  only  wounded  in  the  arm  or 
the  leg,  and  I  said  to  one  of  them,  "Do  you  know  anything  about 
soldier  Silvercruys  ?"  And  he  told  me,  "I  don't  know  anything, 
but  half  of  us  are  killed;"  and  I  went  back  to  mother.  Soon 
the  trunks  and  the  dogs  were  found,  and  we  went  on  in  the  city. 


UNITED  STATES  AND  ITS  RESPONSIBILITIES     257 

You  could  hardly  make  your  way  through  the  crowds.  Every- 
body was  on  the  streets,  just  like  a  city  in  revolution.  People 
were  singing  the  national  anthem  of  Belgium  everywhere,  and 
when  you  looked  up,  instead  of  seeing  the  sky,  you  would  only 
see  the  three  colors  of  the  Belgian  flag  hanging  at  every  win- 
dow. 

That  night  in  my  little  room  I  could  not  go  to  sleep.  I  prayed 
all  night.  I  wanted  to  do  something  for  the  war,  something  for 
the  boys ;  I  wanted  to  do  my  bit,  or  rather,  I  wanted  to  do  my 
best;  and  the  next  morning  I  told  my  father  I  wanted  to  do 
something  to  help  Belgium.  So  I  went  to  see  a  very  good  girl 
friend  of  mine  who  is  twenty-two  years  old,  and  we  went  to  the 
hospital  which  has  been  made  at  the  Palace  of  Justice.  You  see, 
in  Belgium,  there  were  no  trained  nurses  ever,  only  Sisters  of 
Charity.  So  when  the  war  broke  out,  the  ladies  and  girls  in 
Belgium  volunteered  to  do  all  they  could  and  the  best  they  could 
for  the  wounded. 

I  thought  I  would  be  accepted  as  a  nurse,  but  when  I  went 
to  the  Superintendent  of  the  Hospital  the  gentleman  said,  "What 
do  you  want?"  I  said,  "I  wish  to  be  a  nurse."  "How  old  are 
you  ?"  I  said,  "About  sixteen."  And  he  said,  "What  can  a  girl 
of  sixteen  do?  It  is  perfectly  silly;  you  can't  enlist  as  a  nurse, 
only  sixteen  years  old."  I  said  to  him,  "Can't  you  think  of  some- 
thing I  can  do  ?"  And  he  said,  "Well,  if  you  want  to  go  into  the 
kitchen  and  peel  potatoes  and  onions  and  wash  dishes,  you  can  do 
that."  I  said  to  him,  "If  that  is  my  bit,  I  am  glad  to  do  it."  So 
I  went  to  the  kitchen  and  peeled  potatoes  and  onions  and  washed 
dishes  for  two  days,  and  I  was  the  happiest  girl  on  the  face  of  this 
earth.  In  the  beginning  of  the  third  day  I  heard  the  ladies  in 
charge  of  our  store-room  in  the  hospital.  They  have  to  have  a 
store-room.  They  had  a  fuss  and  they  all  left!  So  this  girl 
friend  and  I,  we  went  upstairs  to  the  store-room  and  took  charge 
for  two  days,  from  eight  o'clock  in  the  morning  until  eight  o'clock 
at  night.  At  the  beginning  of  the  third  day  I  went  to  the 
Superintendent  of  the  Red  Cross.  When  I  went  to  the  door,  he 
said,  "Young  lady,  you  are  awfully  young,  but  we  will  try  to  give 
you  training  in  one  of  our  wards;"  and  from  that  time  on  I 
worked  in  ward  No.  2  at  tfre  Palace  of  Justice.  I  nursed  first 
the  Belgian  wounded  and  then  the  German  wounded  for  three 
months;  but  during  that  month,  on  the  15th  of  the  month,  I 
went  to  Louvain  where  my  sister  lived.  My  brother-in-law  was 
Professor  of  the  University  of  Louvain.  I  went  there  to  see  my 
brother  who  had  escaped,  and  just  to  tell  you  how  cheerful  those 
Belgian  boys  were,  I  will  tell  you  what  my  brother  said  to  me 
when  I  met  him:  "Hello,  little  sister,  we  had  fried  chicken  last 


858   ONE  HUNDRED  PER  CENT  AMERICAN 

night,  and  I  was  able  to  sleep  in  a  bed  and  wash  and  shave,  the 
first  time  for  fifteen  days."  He  came  home  with  us,  and  I  never 
saw  anybody  eat  the  way  he  did.  He  ate  for  two  hours  straight. 
We  looked  at  him,  and  at  one  another,  and  finally  he  said,  "Now 
I  am  all  right  for  eight  days/'  Those  boys  had  come  back  from 
Liege;  they  had  seen  the  fight  there,  but  they  were  still  full  of 
jokes.    That  is  the  way  with  our  Belgian  people. 

One  of  the  most  pathetic  things  that  I  have  heard  my  brother 
told  me.  He  told  me  that  he  went  to  Liege  and  that  the  first 
night  there,  as  they  were  marching  up  the  hill — the  Germans 
were  at  the  top  and  they  were  to  take  the  hill  back — my  brother 
said,  "We  marched  in  the  moonlight.  We  walked  in  the  road,  and 
I  was  walking  in  the  back  of  the  regiment  with  my  chum  when 
a  bullet  came,  a  single  bullet,  and  it  killed  him.  I  ran  on  him  and 
shook  him  and  called  him,  but  the  officer  said,  'Come  on;  you 
will  see  some  others  later  on.'  After  that  I  was  thirsty  for  blood," 
said  my  brother. 

Then,  after  the  siege  of  Louvain,  one  day  as  he  was  coming 
on  the  road,  he  met  the  father  and  mother  of  that  boy,  and 
they  looked  all  over  and  then  they  saw  my  brother,  and  the 
mother,  smiling,  came  up  to  him,  saying,  "Do  you  know  where 
my  son  is?"  My  brother  said,  "I  wanted  the  earth  to  open 
under  my  feet  to  let  me  go  in  and  disappear;"  and,  with  that 
mother  looking  up  into  his  eyes,  my  brother  said,  "Oh,  I  think 
he  has  been  wounded ;  yes,  he  has  been  wounded ;  I  think  he  has 
been  wounded  seriously  and  he  was  not  able  to  follow,  so  he  was 
kept  in  Liege."  And  the  mother  was  looking  in  my  eyes,  trying 
to  read  them.  She  had  in  her  hands  packages  that  she  had 
brought  to  her  son,  and  then  she  said,  "As  long  as  he  is  not  here, 
here  are  some  packages  for  you — all  I  have  brought."  And  then, 
just  to  tell  you  how  she  felt,  she  took  off  the  papers  which  were 
around  those  packages  and  carried  the  packages  to  a  window  sill, 
and  then  she  just  plaited  that  paper  and  her  hands  were  going 
like  a  machine  all  the  time.  Her  whole  body  was  going  like  a 
machine  and  her  husband  had  to  take  her  away.  Only  a  few  days 
after,  she  was  notified  of  her  son's  death. 

I  saw  those  boys  in  Louvain  and  talked  with  them.  Some  of 
them  told  me  they  were  grabbed  away  from  their  mother  at 
the  moment  she  was  dying. 

In  a  few  days  after,  as  I  was  home  for  luncheon,  I  heard 
the  bell  ring  and  I  looked  and  then  I  saw  my  sister  with  her 
husband  and  her  three  little  children.  This  was  her  greeting: 
"The  Germans  are  in  Louvain.  They  will  be  here  to-morrow 
morning."  We  could  not  believe  it;  we  would  not.  The  next 
morning  we  were  notified  of  the  Germans'  coming.    Our  beloved 


UNITED  STATES  AND  ITS  RESPONSIBILITIES     259 

Mayor,  Mr.  Max,  at  twelve  o'clock  went  to  meet  the  Germans 
outside  of  town.  The  City  of  Brussels  had  to  pay  the  sum  of 
one  and  one-half  million  francs,  and  it  had  to  be  in  the  City  Hall 
within  twenty-four  hours.  I  call  the  Germans  the  barbarians  of 
the  twentieth  century. 

Those  people  have  a.  wonderful  organization; — that  cannot 
be  denied; — their  spy  service  is  so  complete,  and  they  know  the 
names  of  all  the  important  people  in  the  city,  the  names  of  all 
the  public  buildings,  and  all  the  hospitals;  and  a  small  detach- 
ment of  soldiers  takes  everything,  all  the  public  buildings.  We 
were  in  a  hospital,  and  were  a  public  building,  so  they  did  not 
forget  us!  They  came  in  and  requested  our  services,  to  nurse 
the  German  wounded.  When  the  Germans  "request"  you  to  do  a 
thing,  it  means  that  you  are  obliged  to  do  the  thing  under  penalty 
of  death  or  whatever  they  will  invent  at  the  time. 

We  were  given  a  pass  to  go  in  and  out  of  the  hospital,  and 
every  time  I  clenched  my  fists  at  having  to  go  between  those 
Huns. 

Nobody  was  on  the  streets  that  did  not  have  to  be  on  the 
streets.  Every  blind  and  shade  were  closed,  and  you  would 
have  thought  every  house  deserted  if  it  had  not  been  for  the 
living  Belgian  flag  still  hanging  there.  Naturally,  we  were  "re- 
quested" to  take  our  flag  down ;  but  we  Belgian  people  were  not 
going  to  take  our  flag  down.  They  could  take  it  by  force  if 
they  wanted  to ;  we  were  not  beaten ;  we  are  not  beaten ;  we  never 
will  be  beaten ! 

For  two  days  and  two  nights  a  gray  stream  of  Germans  passed 
through  Brussels  with  their  big  42-guns,  marching  to  the  North  of 
France.  At  that  time  our  troops  were  confined  in  the  fortress 
of  Antwerp.  A  few  days  after,  at  nine  o'clock  at  night,  we  saw 
the  sky  all  red  at  the  side  of  Louvain ;  it  looked  like  a  big  fire ; 
it  could  not  have  been  the  sunset  at  nine  o'clock  at  night.  The 
next  morning  the  refugees  told  us  the  whole  city  was  on  fire; 
and  then  an  old  friend  of  ours  came  to  tell  us  of  some  of  the 
atrocities  of  Louvain,  which  I  knew  of  because  I  have  seen  the 
people  themselves.  If  somebody  comes  to  me  and  says,  "I  have 
a  friend  who  has  a  friend  who  has  another  friend  who  knew 
somebody  who  knew  somebody  else,  etc.,"  that  doesn't  work  with 
me  at  all.  I  want  first-hand  information.  These  girls  were  very 
good  friends  of  mine.  Their  father  was  known  in  Louvain  as 
"old  M.  Lupres."  One  of  his  sons  was  a  first  lieutenant  in  the 
Belgian  Army  and  the  youngest  was  a  lad  sixteen  years  old. 

The  Germans  got  into  Louvain,  and  for  eight  days  stayed  in 
every  home,  ate  their  meals,  and  as  a  sign  of  their  gratitude,  this 
is  what  happened  on  the  eighth  day.    These  girls  were  at  home 


260   ONE  HUNDRED  PER  CENT  AMERICAN 

at  night,  and  the  German  soldiers  came  to  them  and  said,  "Get 
right  out  of  this  house."  They  put  them  right  on  the  street,  all 
the  women  on  one  side  of  the  street  and  all  the  men  on  the 
other.  They  said,  "Kneel  down."  They  all  knelt  down,  and 
then,  right  over  their  heads  went  the  machine  guns.  One  of  these 
girls  said  she  saw  that  her  father  was  too  old  to  kneel,  so  she 
went  over  on  the  other  side  of  the  street  to  help  him.  The 
soldiers  said  to  her,  "Go  back."  So  she  went  back,  and  after  a 
while  the  Germans  said,  "You  all  turn  one  side,  and  if  one  of 
you  dares  look,  she  will  be  shot."  And  then  they  went  to  shoot- 
ing, and  after  three-quarters  of  an  hour,  when  they  were  allowed 
to  turn,  the  men  had  left,  but  there  on  the  street  were  lying  the 
bodies  of  a  few  of  them.  They  were  not  even  allowed  to  go  and 
look  to  see  if  it  was  one  of  their  own  lying  dead.  To  make  it 
more  cruel,  they  had  turned  the  bodies  face  down  on  the 
ground.  The  city  was  set  on  fire.  These  two  girls  got  to  a 
wind-mill  outside  the  city.  They  knocked  at  the  door.  A  low 
voice  said,  "Come  in."  When  they  went  inside,  they  saw  an 
old  man  lying  on  the  floor  and  crying.  They  said  to  him,  "We 
have  been  chased  from  Louvain.  The  city  is  on  fire,  set  on  fire 
by  the  Germans."  His  answer  was,  "Oh,  the  Germans  just 
passed  here  and  killed  my  son."  The  girls  stayed  all  night  there, 
came  to  Brussels  and  came  to  me.  They  cried  with  me  there  in 
Brussels,  not  knowing  where  their  father  and  little  brother  were. 
After  a  while  my  father  went  to  von  Bissing  and  asked  him 
where  the  old  man  and  the  little  boy  were.  Von  Bissing  said  it 
was  none  of  his  business.  After  a  long  while  it  was  known  that 
this  gentleman  and  his  little  son  were  in  a  civilian  prison  camp 
in  Germany.  After  six  months  he  was  sent  back  to  Belgium  and 
I  went  to  see  him.  This  little  boy  who  had  always  been  full  of 
fun  before  the  war,  was  shaking  like  a  leaf.  I  said  to  his  sister, 
"What  is  the  matter  with  him?"  And  she  said,  "He  has  been 
this  way  ever  since  he  came  back.  Every  time  the  bell  rings,  he 
thinks  it  is  a  German  gun,  or  the  Germans  coming  to  take  him 
back  to  Germany." 

I  saw  old  M.  Lupres.  He  said,  "I  beg  your  pardon, 
but  I  can't  stand  up  any  more,  but  I  am  so  glad  to  see  you."  He 
said,  "We  had  to  eat  the  skins  of  potatoes,  and  go  with  a  little 
bowl  to  get  our  soup,  and  if  I  could  not  go  fast  enough  they 
would  hit  me.  We  were  all  put  in  the  trains,  waiting  in  the 
station.  Those  that  could  not  get  in  were  shot.  I  saw  lots  of 
young  men  shot  by  the  Germans  because  there  was  no  more 
place  on  the  train."  They  were  all  standing  in  the  cars.  They 
traveled  four  days  without  being  able  to  move  in  that  train.  If 
one  of  them  dared  to  step  out  of  the  train  he  was  shot.    They 


UNITED  STATES  AND  ITS  RESPONSIBILITIES     261 

slept  against  one  another,  and  the  only  thing  that  was  done  for 
them  was  that  a  pail  of  water  was  passed  around  for  those  men  to 
drink.  The  torture  of  those  four  days  is  not  imaginable.  Nothing 
could — no  words  could  tell  the  torture  of  those  four  days.  When 
they  got  into  Germany  the  women  just  cried  and  screamed  and 
threw  all  sorts  of  things  at  them.  "But  here  I  am,"  he  finished. 
And  I  told  him,  "I  am  awfully  glad  to  see  you,  now  it  is  all  over, 
and  glad  that  you  are  back  with  your  daughters  and  with  us  who 
love  you."    But  a  week  after,  he  died. 

The  Germans  send  them  back  when  they  know  there  is  no 
more  hope  for  them  to  live.  One  of  our  biggest  men  in  Belgium 
was  sent  to  Germany.  He  was  sent  back  to  Brussels.  Three 
days  after  he  got  back  he  died. 

Another  instance  was  that  of  a  well-known  professor  at  the 
University  at  Louvain.  He  was  an  old  gentleman  and  his  son 
was  also  a  professor  in  the  University  of  Louvain.  The  old 
gentleman  was  dying  of  pneumonia.  On  the  eighth  day  the 
Germans  came  into  the  house  and  said,  "Get  right  out  or  we 
will  set  the  house  on  fire."  The  young  son  said,  "Don't  you 
see  that  my  father  is  dying?  Let  him  die  in  peace,  and  do 
what  you  want  with  the  house  afterward."  As  he  was  able  to 
speak  German,  the  son  was  able  to  get  back.  When  he  came 
there,  what  did  he  see  but  his  old  father  dead  on  a  mattress  in 
the  middle  of  the  street,  and  his  old  mother  kneeling  there  in 
the  middle  of  the  street,  and  the  house  itself  in  flames. 

And  then,  very  near  my  brother's  home,  here  is  another 
instance :  There  were  five  men  who  were  dragged  away  into  the 
woods  by  the  Germans,  and  when  they  got  there  they  saw  other 
men  there,  digging  their  graves,  their  own  graves.  It  was  the 
cruelty  of  the  Germans.  They  made  them  dig  their  graves, 
then  they  would  be  shot,  fall  into  the  graves  they  had  just  dug 
and  the  earth  put  right  over.  One  of  them  escaped.  He  was 
shot  through  the  leg,  but  escaped.  He  was  pursued  by  the 
Germans,  but  another  regiment  of  Germans  got  in  front  of  him, 
and  in  that  way  they  did  not  dare  to  shoot  any  more  and  so  he 
escaped.     When  the  others  followed,  they  were  shot. 

And  down  in  Dinant  there  was  the  case  of  a  father,  mother 
and  four  little  children ;  they  were  dragged  out  of  their  house  and 
they  were  killed  right  away,  the  mother  and  father  and  three  little 
children.  The  baby  escaped,  because  the  Germans  did  not  know 
that  he  existed.  Their  sister  who  lived  in  Brussels  went  down  to 
Dinant  and  got  the  baby. 

There  are  things  in  Belgium  so  horrible  that  there  are  no 
words  for  a  girl  to  tell.  But  all  those  things  will  come  out  after 
the  war,  because  there  is  now,  right  now,  in  Belgium  an  Inquisi- 


262   ONE  HUNDRED  PER  CENT  AMERICAN 

tion  Service  working,  and  I  know  people  who  are  working  on  it. 
There  are  proofs  and  pictures  of  everything. 

A  few  days  after  the  fire  of  Louvain,  in  the  beginning  of 
September,  we  heard  guns  from  Antwerp  so  clear  that  the  win- 
dows of  the  house,  our  whole  house,  would  shake  in  the  vibration 
of  the  guns.  At  twilight  daddy  and  I  went  for  a  walk  beyond 
Brussels,  through  the  valley  between  Malines  and  Brussels.  We 
could  see  the  smoke  of  the  guns.  It  was  one  of  those  September 
sunsets  when  the  sky  was  all  red,  and  that  red  made  us  think  of 
the  blood  of  our  boys  that  was  streaming  down  there  for  all  of  us. 

That  night  there  were  so  many  of  the  Germans  who  came  into 
the  hospital;  then  we  heard  of  the  big  victory  of  our  soldiers, 
We  heard  it  by  the  prohibited  paper  that  is  carried  through  the 
frontier  by  black  dogs.  We  would  not  want  to  read  the  German 
papers.  What  is  the  use  of  reading  lies,  anyway?  But  right  in 
Brussels  now,  there  is  a  paper  published,  "La  Liberte  Belgique." 
The  Germans  don't  know  where  it  is  published,  but  the  Belgians 
can  fool  them.  Anyway,  they  have  not  found  it  yet.  And  here 
is  the  way  those  papers  are  sold :  You  walk  in  the  streets,  and 
this  man  comes  right  up  to  you  and  whispers,  "I  have  papers. 
Do  you  want  to  buy  one?"  And  you  say,  "All  right,  meet  you 
at  that  corner  and  that  street."  And  you  walk  to  the  street  and 
you  see  the  man,  and  if  there  are  too  many  people  around,  you 
say,  "I  will  meet  you  at  another  corner."  Well,  you  meet  him, 
and  you  open  your  coat  and  he  opens  his  coat,  and  you  pass 
sometimes  fifty  francs.  Then,  you  say  to  all  your  friends,  "I 
have  the  prohibited  paper ;  meet  me  at  my  house  this  afternoon." 
And  they  get  somebody  to  translate  English  and  read  the  paper 
to  you.  And  all  the  while  you  and  your  friends  in  the  house  are 
enjoying  the  paper,  there  is  somebody  walking  in  front  of  your 
house  and  watching.  Naturally,  if  you  are  found  with  a  pro- 
hibited paper,  you  are  liable  to  be  shot  very  quickly. 

So  we  heard  of  the  big  victory,  and  we  were  happy.  We 
said  to  each  other,  "In  a  week  or  two  it  will  be  all  over" ;  but  in 
the  month  of  October  we  heard  of  the  fall  of  Antwerp.  At  first 
we  would  not  believe  it;  it  could  not  be  possible  that  Antwerp 
and  her  big  forts  that  we  thought  could  not  fall,  would  fall. 
But  the  spy  service  was  there  again,  and  the  Germans,  people 
whom  we  thought  were  Belgians,  had  built  villas  and  houses 
around  Antwerp,  and  we  found  these  houses  had  cement  bases 
on  which  were  put  the  42-guns,  and  they  knew  the  exact  direction 
to  a  strategic  point  or  to  a  fortress,  and  that  is  the  way  Antwerp 
fell  in  two  or  three  days.     But  happily,  our  little  army  escaped. 

At  the  end  of  three  months  we  had  in  our  hospital  two 
hundred  German  wounded  and  two  hundred  Belgians.    All  the 


UNITED  STATES  AND  ITS  RESPONSIBILITIES     263 

girls  decided  to  let  all  the  Belgian  soldiers  escape  during  the 
night,  and  we  each  brought  men's  suits  for  them  from  our  homes. 
I  took  one  of  my  brother's  suits.  That  night  I  was  on  night 
duty  with  a  few  girl  friends,  and  the  doctors  and  we  dressed  those 
men,  and  they  passed  between  those  sentinels  who  saw  nothing 
because  it  was  night  time.  The  next  morning  the  officers  saw 
something!  They  said,  "Where  are  those  men?"  We  tried  to 
look  innocent.  We  said,  "We  don't  know."  The  officers,  "Very 
well,  we  will  teach  you  to  know." 

It  is  strange,  when  I  look  over  it  now,  I  think  I  ought  to  have 
been  scared,  but  I  was  not  in  the  least.  It  was  great,  and  I 
thought  it  would  have  even  been  greater  if  they  had  shot  me 
for  the  sake  of  my  country.  I  always  wanted  to  suffer  something 
for  Belgium.  I  wanted  to  be  taken  to  jail  or  be  shot.  I  used 
to  wear  my  flags  on  my  hat,  the  five  flags  of  the  Allies.  On  them 
I  had  written  "Union  makes  strength."  On  my  coat  I  wore  the 
American  flag  which  I  have  always  loved.  I  draped  the  pictures 
of  the  King,  Queen,  Prince  and  Princess.  If  I  saw  a  German 
officer  who  thought  he  looked  smart,  I  would  put  my  hat  right 
in  his  face. 

You  know  the  German  officers  are  very  queer.  They  thought 
they  were  the  most  stunning  creatures  on  the  face  of  this  earth, 
and  never  could  understand  why  every  Belgian  girl  did  not 
fail  in  love  with  them.  They  said  they  had  brought  their  evening 
suits  and  they  never  knew  why  they  never  had  to  use  them! 
We  Belgian  girls  hated  them  cordially.  One  time  I  got  in  a 
street  car.  You  know,  they  come  around  to  get  the  fare  in 
Belgium.  I  had  seen  this  man  come  to  get  the  fare,  and  while 
I  was  getting  it  out  of  my  purse,  a  German  soldier  touched  me 
on  the  shoulder.  I  turned  around  and  glared  at  the  soldier, 
and  then  to  the  conductor  I  said,  "Would  you  mind  waiting 
just  a  second!"  And  I  brushed  off  my  shoulder  where  the 
German  had  touched  it.  I  was  soiled  by  the  touch  of  a  German. 
So  when  we  saw  the  Germans,  revolvers  in  hand,  we  just  smiled. 

At  twelve  o'clock,  my  father  came  in  with  this  huge,  enor- 
mous German  officer.  He  said,  "Daughter,  here  is  Mr.  von 
Something-or-other."  Germans  are  always  "von"  something. 
You  know,  the  Kaiser  once  prayed  God  and  said  to  him,  "God, 
if  you  will  let  me  win  the  war,  you  won't  be  called  only  'God'  any 
more,  but  'von  God'."  When  this  officer  said  this  to  me — and 
it  took  him  ten  minutes  to  say  it — "If  you  er — er — er — I  will  get 
you  out  of  trouble."  I  thought  it  was  funny  that  a  German 
officer  who  had  killed  women  and  children  suddenly  became 
nervous.  And  he  said,  "I  will  give  you  my  word,  they  will  be 
out  to-night."     I  was  going  to  say  to  him,  "Your  word !    A  Ger- 


264       ONE  HUNDRED  PER  CENT  AMERICAN 

man's  word !  Well,  we  know  all  about  it  and  about  the  scrap  o'i 
paper  too."  Then  I  thought  it  was  more  diplomatic  not  to  tell 
him,  and  I  didn't.  That  night  for  once  the  German  kept  his 
word,  and  the  nurses  and  doctors  went  out  too. 

Then  we  worked  for  the  little  children  of  Belgium  for  six 
months.  I  used  to  work,  and  your  beloved  American  minister 
used  to  come  around  in  the  morning  and  watch  us  work.  We 
used  to  make  soup  from  eight  in  the  morning  until  twelve 
o'clock,  cooking  cocoa  and  getting  milk,  and  at  twelve  o'clock 
those  little  babies  used  to  come  to  us  laughing.  They  did  not 
know  that  their  mother  was  hungry  and  their  father  was  fighting 
at  the  front  or  that  anybody  had  been  killed.  And  we  would 
play  with  them,  and  we  would  be  happy  to  have  them,  and  we 
would  give  them  cocoa  and  milk,  and  in  the  afternoon  we  used 
to  try  to  find  those  poor  little  children.  Sometimes  there  would 
be  six  or  eight  little  children  in  a  room  with  a  mother,  crying 
from  hunger.  Sometimes  she  would  be  too  proud  to  come,  but 
after  a  while  we  would  persuade  her  to  come,  and  so  we  had 
in  our  canteen  over  two  hundred  and  fifty  of  them  coming 
every  day. 

In  the  morning  I  used  to  go  to  market  for  them.  It  was 
very  funny.  You  know,  the  Belgian  girls  used  to  hate  to  carry 
in  the  street  even  a  little  package  before  the  war.  But  one  day 
a  girl  and  I  found  ourselves  in  a  most  fashionable  part  of  the 
city,  with  a  huge  straw  basket  filled  with  vegetables  and  meat, 
and  we  laughed  and  laughed.  If  somebody  had  shown  us  that 
picture  four  months  before,  we  would  not  have  believed  it,  but 
war  had  come,  and  we  were  proud  to  do  it. 

At  the  end  of  nine  months  I  had  a  nervous  breakdown.  I 
hated  the  Germans  so  much  I  wanted  to  scratch  out  their  eyes. 
That  feeling  of  hatred  made  me  nervous  and  ill,  so  I  had  to  leave 
Belgium.  To  come  here  I  had  to  ask  the  Germans  for  a  passport. 
At  first  they  refused,  but  my  father  had  a  way  with  him.  All 
those  Germans  are  sneaks  and  slaves  but  they  have  no  middle 
way  about  them  at  all.  They  have  very  queer  minds  also.  One 
of  our  very  good  friends  had  a  home,  a  country  home,  outside 
of  Brussels.  The  Germans  came  and  took  all  his  silver  and 
all  the  pictures  in  his  house.  He  went  to  von  Bissing  and  said, 
"I  have  got  to  have  my  things  back."  He  said,  "All  right,  I  will 
give  you  one  of  my  officers  and  you  can  see  whether  you  can  find 
them."  So  this  friend  and  the  German  officer  went  to  the  house 
to  which  his  things  and  many  other  stolen  things  had  been  taken, 
and  he  looked  all  through  these  things  and  could  not  find  his. 
He  went  to  von  Bissing  and  said,  "I  cannot  find  any  of  my 
things  there,"  and  von  Bissing  said,  "All  right;  you  can  go  back 


UNITED  STATES  AND  ITS  RESPONSIBILITIES     265 

and  take  anything  you  like  for  compensation."    That  is  the  kind 
of  minds  they  have. 

I  had  asked  for  a  passport  for  myself  and  my  governess, 
because  you  know  in  Belgium  girls  do  not  go  at  all  alone  in  the 
street.  I  admit  it  is  much  better  your  way.  I  came  in,  and 
the  German  officer  said,  "So,  young  lady,  you  are  going  to  leave 
Belgium,  and  you  must  leave  Belgium,  and  you  will  never  see 
your  father  again  ;  and  as  long  as  this  is  Germany's  you  will  never 
come  back."  And  then  he  smiled  and  said,  "This  will  always  be 
Germany's,"  and  he  said,  "You  must  go  and  your  governess  can't 
go."  I  said,  "All  right,  give  me  my  passport."  I  was  allowed  a 
suitcase,  and  went  out  with  my  father.  My  daddy  said,  "I  can't 
think  of  letting  you  do  it,"  and  mother  also  was  very  sad,  and  then 
she  realized  I  had  to  go. 

The  next  morning  I  left  everybody  I  loved  and  I  smiled  as 
I  said  "Good-bye."  I  did  not  look  back  at  the  house.  I  traveled 
all  day  in  the  street  cars.  We  would  rather  be  tired  and  travel 
all  day  in  Belgian  streets  than  to  travel  two  hours  in  a  German 
train  and  pay  them  for  it.  At  seven  o'clock  at  night  I  found 
myself  at  the  German  frontier.  When  the  German  officer  looked 
at  my  passport  he  said,  "It  is  no  good."  I  said,  "Why  not?" 
"Because  your  picture  is  not  stamped  and  you  can't  pass."  I  had 
in  my  suit-case  a  passport  which  I  had  to  go  and  see  Louvain — ■ 
I  saw  Louvain  nearly  all  burned.  I  saw  my  sister's  home  where 
she  had  been  so  happy  for  eight  years,  burned  to  the  ground. 
There  were  graves  of  soldiers  right  in  the  garden,  with  just  a 
little  cross  saying  "Here  lies  so-and-so,  who  died  for  his  coun- 
try." There  were  bones  of  horses  and  cows  in  the  yard.  One 
moment  I  came  to  the  street,  and  I  wanted  to  pass  through  a 
street,  but  the  soldiers  were  there.  I  used  to  speak  German,  but 
I  voluntarily  forgot  it.  I  said  to  the  German  soldier,  "Can  I 
pass?"  "No."  "Why,  what  is  happening?"  And  from  where 
I  stood  I  saw  the  bodies  of  men,  or  rather  what  was  left  of  the 
bodies  of  civilians.  The  soldier  said,  "Go  your  way,  you  have 
not  seen  anything."     I  said,  "No,  I  haven't  seen  anything." 

And  I  went  back  to  Brussels.  I  saw  the  ruins  of  Malines 
which  had  been  bombarded.  I  saw  another  city  in  which  there 
were  just  four  houses  left  standing,  and  all  through  Belgium, 
poor  little  Belgium. 

And  there  I  was  at  the  frontier  and  they  said,  "You  can  go," 
and  I  stepped  on  the  train.  I  was  to  go  alone  and  my  father  was 
to  stay  in  Belgium.  At  the  moment  our  car  pulled  out,  he 
called  and  said,  ''Don't  go;  come  back,"  and  I  said,  "Daddy,  I 
must  go."  I  smiled,  because  I  wanted  to  smile.  When  your  sons 
go  away,  smile  when  they  go;  they  will  remember  your  smile. 


266       ONE  HUNDRED  PER  CENT  AMERICAN 

That  is  the  way  I  see  my  father  always,  standing  at  the  frontier 
of  my  country,  in  the  twilight,  waving  his  hat  to  me  as  the  car 
pulled  out. 

Well,  suddenly  I  found  myself  in  Holland,  and  I  pulled  out 
this  Belgian  flag  I  had  in  my  pocket  and  waved  it  and  screamed 
"Freedom!"  There  I  was  in  Holland  all  alone  at  eight  o'clock 
at  night.  I  spent  the  night  at  a  Dutch  hotel,  full  of  Dutch 
officers.  The  next  morning  I  left  at  half-past  five  and  traveled  on 
through  Holland.  I  arrived  at  the  office  of  the  steamship 
company  and  asked  the  man  if  I  could  get  a  place  on  the  boat. 
He  said:  "There  are  at  least  two  thousand  people  on  the  boat. 
You  will  have  to  see  the  director."  I  said,  "Where  does  he  live  ?" 
I  went  there  and  rang  the  bell  and  a  little  boy  came  to  the  door, 
and  I  said  to  myself,  "I  am  going  to  smile;  maybe  I  can  get 
something  if  I  smile."  So  I  smiled  at  him  and  said,  "Can  I  see 
the  director  of  the  company?"  But  the  boy  said,  "No;  nobody 
sees  the  director  of  the  company."  "Well,"  I  said,  "that  is  the 
reason  I  am  going  to  see  him."  I  had  a  letter  in  my  pocket  to 
the  director  from  my  father,  and  I  gave  him  this  letter,  saying, 
"You  can  go  and  bring  that  to  the  director  and  see  what  he 
does."  The  director  came  running  down  and  said,  "Miss  Silver- 
cruys,  I  am  so  glad  to  see  you.  We  got  a  letter  from  the  Minister 
of  Holland  and  he  said  we  were  to  keep  the  best  place  on  the 
boat  for  you."  I  went  to  the  Belgian  Consul  and  he  was  very 
kind  to  me,  and  I  passed  ahead  of  the  thousand  people  waiting 
there. 

And  then  I  went  to  the  English  Consul  and  I  was  writing  a 
telegram  to  my  sister  who  was  at  that  time  at  Cambridge  Univer- 
sity, in  England.  She  had  escaped  from  Belgium.  My  brother- 
in-law  brought  the  answer  from  the  University  of  Louvain.  The 
University  of  Cambridge  asked  all  the  professors  of  the  Univers- 
ity of  Louvain  to  come  to  Cambridge;  and  the  director  of  the 
University  of  Louvain  telegraphed  my  brother-in-law  who  was 
an  old  studentlat  Cambridge,  and  so  he  left,  and  my  sister  carried 
the  answer  in  her  hair  as  she  passed  through  the  trenches, 
through  the  German  line.  She  spoke  German  and  she  passed 
rather  easily.  She  passed  in  a  dog  carriage,  or  rather  the  three 
children  rode  in  the  dog  carriage  and  she  walked  beside  it  with 
my  brother-in-law  and  the  governness  and  another  Belgian  pro- 
fessor. So  they  passed  through  Belgium  to  the  coast  and 
traveled  on  a  boat  full  of  wounded  to  England.  I  was  just 
writing  a  telegram  to  her  when  I  heard  somebody  speak  German, 
and  I  thought,  "My  goodness !  They  are  everywhere."  He  was 
a  real  German  and  he  came  and  tried  to  look  when  I  was  writing. 
When  I  knew  he  was  very  close  and  could  not  get  away,  I  said, 


UNITED  STATES  AND  ITS  RESPONSIBILITIES     267 

"Germans  everywhere !  I  would  like  to  have  a  private  room  for 
the  day." 

I  went  on  the  boat  that  night,  and  on  the  boat  I  had  my  first 
experience  in  English  at  breakfast.  They  had  to  give  me  a 
special  maid  who  could  speak  Flemish.  I  looked  at  the  menu 
and  I  thought,  "It  must  be  Chinese.  I  am  going  to  pick  out  the 
most  attractive  words  in  the  whole  thing  and  see  what  they 
bring  to  me."  Guess  what  I  picked  out :  E-g-g-s  a-n-d  b-a-c-o-n. 
I  thought  to  myself,  "If  they  bring  me  an  elephant  why  it  will  be 
all  right.  After  a  while  I  saw  bacon  and  eggs !  I  was  so  happy 
to  be  eating  bacon  and  eggs  that  I  ordered  it  all  day  long. 

That  night  I  got  to  England  and  then  went  to  Cambridge.  I 
had  my  first  experience  there.  I  stepped  into  a  hansom  cab. 
I  had  never  seen  a  hansom  cab  before.  I  stepped  in  and  sud- 
denly the  thing  started.  I  said,  "Where  is  the  driver?"  And  I 
thought,  "Well,  he  will  catch  up  in  a  minute."  And  he  didn't 
catch  up.  In  the  moonlight  I  saw  the  horses  going,  and  I 
thought,  "He  is  going  back  to  the  stable  for  sure."  But,  after 
a  while  I  heard  "Cluck,  cluck,"  and  thought  "Oh,  I  am  saved; 
the  man  is  up  there." 

I  got  to  my  sister's,  and  she  said,  "You  must  learn  English ; 
you  must  go  to  college,"  and  the  next  day  I  started  to  go  to 
college  and  to  learn  English.  After  two  months  we  got  a  cable- 
gram from  my  brother-in-law,  who,  by  that  time,  was  a  professor 
at  the  Columbia  University,  New  York.  He  said,  "Comeover  to 
America.  Wonderful  country."  And  we  came  to  America,  and 
we  have  always  thought  it  was  a  wonderful  country,  and  we  will 
always  think  it  is.  When  somebody  says  to  me,  "How  do  you  like 
America?"  this  is  my  answer:  "If  I  were  not  a  Belgian  I  would 
want  to  be  an  American." 

Now,  as  I  am  going  to  leave  you,  I  want  to  thank  you 
Americans  for  all  you  have  been  doing  for  little  Belgium.  Little 
Belgium  loves  you,  and  I  am  glad  to  be  the  one  here  to  be  able 
to  thank  you  for  my  people.  You  have  saved  little  Belgium 
in  a  way ;  you  have  fed  little  Belgium,  and  you  have  helped  her, 
and  I  know  you  will  still  do  your  best  to  help  the  people  in 
Belgium.  The  citizens  are  very  poor  there  now.  Little  children, 
anemic  first,  die  by  the  hundreds  of  tuberculosis.  People  are  very 
happy  to  get  a  piece  of  dog  meat.  Dogs  over  forty  inches 
high  are  not  allowed  to  live  for  that  reason.  Milk  is  only 
allowed  to  small  babies  and  very  ill  and  old  people.  An  eggy  if 
you  can  get  one, — you  are  not  allowed  to  get  more  than  one  egg 
a  week — costs  you  over  thirty  cents  apiece.  A  pair  of  shoes 
is  over  $40.00 ;  woolen  blankets  are  $30.00  to  $40.00  a  pair.  You 
must  know  that  that  means  more  to  us  than  it  would  to  you, 


268       ONE  HUNDRED  PER  CENT  AMERICAN 

because  life  is  cheaper  in  Belgium  than  it  is  in  America.  People 
are  very  happy  to  get  the  war  bread  that  we  have  there,  which  is 
not  like  the  wonderful  war  bread  here.  It  is  bread  that  is  brown 
■ — black — and  you  are  just  allowed  a  certain  quantity  of  it,  just 
to  keep  you  alive.  And  it  is  like  that  for  everything,  and  when 
you  want  to  go  and  take  dinner  with  one  of  your  friends,  you 
must  bring  your  things  for  dinner  with  you.  It  is  so  all  through 
Belgium — suffering  everywhere. 

Even  if  the  Germans  should  have  to  stay  in  Belgium  a  hundred 
years,  never  would  they  down  the  spirit  of  the  Belgian  people. 
I  will  show  you  an  instance.  In  a  certain  part  of  Belgium  the 
Germans  requested  all  the  men  to  come  to  the  Hotel  de  Ville  and 
then  this  German  officer  addressed  them  and  said,  "Come  over  to 
Germany.  Come  and  work  for  us.  You  will  be  paid  a  tremen- 
dous pay  and  your  wives  and  little  children  will  not  be  starving 
there."  But  no  man  moved  except  one  who  stepped  forward. 
The  German  said,  "You  see  this  man  is  an  example.  He  is  com- 
ing over  to  work  for  us."  And  he  turned  to  the  man  and  said, 
"What  is  your  business?"  And  the  Belgian  answered,  "I  am  a 
grave  digger  and  ready  to  work  for  you."  That  is  the  spirit  of 
the  Belgian  people  everywhere,  even  in  little  children  . 

Belgium,  when  she  could,  fought  for  the  world.  Now  I  am 
going  to  ask  you  to  help  and  fight  for  little  Belgium,  to  fight  for 
yourselves  and  to  fight  for  the  world. 


THREE:  BY  HONORABLE  MYRON  T  HERRICK 

Former  United  States  Ambassador  to  France 

We  have  been  strangely  uplifted  and  translated.  It  seemed 
to  me  as  I  listened  to  this  dear  little  girl's  address,  as  though 
this  crucifixion  of  Belgium  marked  another  distinct  period^  in 
human  progress.  It  has  been  extremely  difficult  for  us  during 
these  trying  days  to  comprehend  and  understand  the  meaning  of 
this  war,  because  it  is  beyond  comprehension.  But  the  crucifixion 
of  Belgium  resembles  that  other  period  of  the  new  birth  of  the 
world  and  the  crucifixian  of  Christ.  It  seemed  to  me  that  this 
young  girl  was  an  embodiment  of  the  spirit  of  her  nation;  and 
we  who  have  heard  her  words  to-day  though  we  may  have  thought 
that  Belgium  had  lost  her  national  life,  now  realize  that  on  the 
contrary  she  has  had  a  new  birth. 

Whatever  the  causes  of  this  war  were  in  the  beginning,  and 
that  subject  has  been  discussed  in  all  the  chanceries  of  Europe  and 
everywhere  else  in  the  world,  its  meaning  has  at  length  been  re- 


UNITED  STATES  AND  ITS  RESPONSIBILITIES     269 

vealed  to  us.  We  have  a  different  comprehension  to-day  of  that 
meaning  than  we  had  before.  We  thought  it  a  commercial  war- 
fare ;  we  thought  this ;  we  thought  that.  But  in  these  latter  days, 
our  minds  are  going  back  more  and  more  to  the  morning  of 
democracy.  Why,  democracy  had  its  birth  when  Christ  was  born 
in  the  manger,  and  that  is  where  the  battle  began ;  and  to-day  it 
is  a  question  of  the  divine  right  of  kings  as  against  the  divine 
right  of  peoples,  and  that  battle  has  been  going  on  in  all  these 
centuries.  We  haven't  quite  comprehended  it  until  these  latter 
days,  but  now  we  are  beginning  to  understand.  And  if  we  should, 
by  any  reason,  fail,  then  I  would  feel  that  I  had  lost  my  faith, 
and  I  haven't  lost  my  faith,  No! 

We  were  all  strangely  moved  by  that  inspired  story  of  Bel- 
gium. I  happened  to  see  something  of  the  other  side  of  the  pic- 
ture in  those  fateful  days  of  19 14.  I  saw  those  people  who 
traveled  in  the  street  cars,  who  were  driven  from  their  homes, 
filling  those  long  roads  in  France,  moving  somewhere  away 
from  the  terrible  invading  Hun.  Oh,  my  dear  girl  (turning  to 
Mile.  Silvercruys)  you  need  not  thank  us  for  what  we  do  for 
Belgium.  Do  not  we  understand  that  it  was  just  those  days,  just 
those  fourteen  days,  that  saved  America  ? 

I  had  seen  that  great  German  army.  I  had  seen  sixty  thou- 
sand in  Berlin  on  parade ;  I  had  motored  through  Germany ;  I  had 
seen  the  organization,  and  we  had  no  hope  in  Paris  of  staying 
that  oncoming  tide  which  seemed  as  powerful,  as  overwhelming, 
as  the  tide  of  the  ocean.  There  was  no  one  who  understood  who 
believed  it  could  be  stayed,  and  that  is  why  I  have  faith ;  because 
it  was  stayed. 

I  remember  a  little  incident,  the  first  glimmer,  possibly,  of 
hope  that  this  might  not  come  to  us,  because  I  think  I  com- 
prehended then  in  the  early  days  the  meaning  of  the  war  to  this 
extent;  that  it  meant  that  democracy  must  go  down  if  Germany 
won.  The  first  glimmer  of  hope  that  we  had  was  in  the  early 
days,  about  the  time  of  the  Battle  of  the  Marne.  Every  day 
just  a  little  nearer  came  that  powerful  army.  We  knew  the  plan 
was  to  come  through  at  Nancy,  and  Bar-le-duc,  and  each  day 
move  a  little  nearer. 

But  one  night — now  this  seems  a  trifling  thing,  and  you  will 
pardon  me  for  being  possibly  a  little  superstitious,  but  how  could 
that  army  have  been  stayed  by  the  forces  that  were  massed 
against  it  ? — one  night  I  came  down  with  two  secretaries  from  the 
Chancery  to  the  Seine,  and  there  we  saw  up  the  river  in  that 
little  island  city  a  flag,  the  French  flag,  across  the  face  of  the 
moon,  that  seemed  to  sit  on  the  edge  of  a  building.  The  great 
Jtnoon  was  coming  up  and  floating  across  the  front  of  it  was  the 


270   ONE  HUNDRED  PER  CENT  AMERICAN 

French  flag,  as  though  it  were  pasted  on  the  moon.  And  on  the 
bridge  across  the  Seine  and  along  the  quays  at  different  places 
were  French  people  kneeling  and  praying.  They  said,  "That  is  a 
sign,"  and  then  we  learned  of  this  prophecy  I  had  not  known  be- 
fore. It  seems  there  is  an  evil  prophecy  centuries  old  that  on  that 
battlefield  where  those  great  armies  were  encamped  nearly  four 
million  men  opposing,  that  on  that  great  plain,  some  time,  in  some 
way,  the  fate  of  France  would  be  settled.  And  the  French  said, 
"That  is  the  sign ;  that  is  the  sign ;  and  France  will  be  saved." 

We  were  strangely  impressed  by  this  incident.  This  was  just 
preceding  what  was  called  the  great  decision.  If  you  will  re- 
member, with  those  armies  came  Joffre  and  that  brilliant  little 
"contemptible  army"  as  the  Kaiser  called  it  of  eighty  thousand 
men,  of  whom  only  twenty-seven  hundred  are  now  living.  It  was 
the  eighty  thousand  of  the  British  army  that  stood  in  the  breach 
with  France  and  had  fallen  back  until  that  day.  They  saved  the 
day,  together  with  the  French ;  and  possibly,  possibly,  this  was  in 
answer  to  prayer  and  was  the  fulfillment  of  the  prophecy  centuries 
old,  that  the  fate  of  France  was  to  be  settled  in  the  Battle  of 
the  Marne. 

And  I  believe  it  was  not  the  fate  of  France  alone  that  was 
settled  in  the  Battle  of  the  Marne.  I  think  that  it  was  the  great 
decision  for  democracy  and  for  civilization,  saved  by  little  Bel- 
gium in  the  beginning,  and  that  is  why  we  may  have  hope  and 
faith  that  success  shall  eventually  come  to  the  civilized  world 
and  it  shall  be  saved. 

As  to  our  part  and  place  in  the  war,  how  impatient  we  have 
been  all  these  years.  These  people  on  the  other  side — how 
patient  and  considerate  they  have  been  of  us,  and  I  want  to  say 
that  to  our  friend  who  sits  here,  one  of  the  ablest  in  all  Europe, 
who  brilliantly  and  splendidly  represented  Serbia  in  Paris  during 
the  time  I  was  there  and  who  is  now  the  High  Commissioner  of 
Serbia  here  in  America,  speaking  for  that  wonderful  little  country 
that  stands  side  by  side  with  the  rest  of  the  Allies  in  Belgium, 
how  patiently  they  have  waited  until  we  could  understand  and 
comprehend  how  it  related  to  us.  But  finally,  the  responsibility, 
yea,  the  obligation,  that  rests  upon  us  was  seen  and  recognized. 
That  responsibility  arid  obligation  are  now  upon  us,  after  these 
years,  when  the  millions  of  the  boys  of  France,  when  those 
boys  in  Belgium  and  those  splendid  Englishmen,  have  given  their 
lives ;  when  they  have  stood  in  the  breach  and  held  back  that  in- 
vading foe  whose  crimes,  as  has  been  said  here,  would  have 
brought  shame  to  Attila — and  would  have  made  the  North  Ameri- 
can Indian  blush  with  shame — these  atrocities  which  were  un- 
known at  this  civilized  age,  when  they  have  stood  and  bared  their 


UNITED  STATES  AND  ITS  RESPONSIBILITIES     271 

breasts,  without  arms,  often  without  munitions,  but  with  that  won- 
derful spirit,  that  spirit  which  is  evidenced  in  reincarnated  France, 
they  have  stood  there  and  waited  patiently  until  we  did  compre- 
hend. And  now,  thank  God,  we  have  comprehended,  and  it  is  we 
Americans  who  have  the  responsibility  and  the  obligation — the 
opportunity,  I  would  put  it — of  saving  civilization.  It  rests  upon 
us. 

The  things  that  yesterday,  before  the  war,  we  regarded  as  es- 
sential to  happiness,  to  advancement,  to  American  life,  have  had 
a  new  appraisal  and  been  thrown  in  the  scrap-heap ;  and  it  is  only 
that  spirit  of  mankind,  that  spirit  of  democracy  that  was  born 
in  the  Cradle  at  Bethlehem  that  counts,  that  spirit  of  little  Bel- 
gium that  is  personified  in  this  young  girl.  It  is  only  that  that 
counts,  after  all.  And  now  we  can  hardly  wait  to  organize  that 
ability  which  we  have,  our  resources  which  are  greater  than  any 
other  in  world,  to  perform  that  service  which  I  believe,  and 
I  think  you  believe  with  me,  we  were  designed  by  some  over- 
ruling Providence  to  perform,  and  perform  that  service,  America 
will,  without  doubt. 


Ex-Ambassador  Herrkk's  Introduction  of  M.  Vesnitch 

I  deem  it  a  privilege  to  say  just  a  word  about  my  dear  friend 
M.  Vesnitch.  I  told  my  friend,  Mr.  Olcott,  in  speaking  of  his 
being  here,  that  we  would  possibly  be  available  this  afternoon.  I 
said  that  during  my  time  in  Paris  I  regarded  M.  Vesnitch,  even 
though  I  was  there,  the  most  able  man  in  the  diplomatic  corps. 

Serbia  could  not  possibly  have  had  the  spirit  that  she  has  and 
have  submitted  to  that  ultimatum.  There  was  no  possible  chance 
for  a  nation  that  was  worth  anything  at  all,  that  was  worthy  of 
being  called  a  nation,  to  take  any  other  position  than  Serbia  did, 
and  she  understood  perfectly  what  the  consequences  were  going 
to  be.  And  our  obligation  is  no  less  to  Serbia  and  to  all  her 
people  who  suffer  than  to  the  suffering  ones  of  Belgium  and 
France.  We  do  not  hear  of  their  suffering,  unfortunately;  the 
curtain  is  drawn.  We  do  not  know  of  it  as  we  know  of  Belgium. 
But  I  know  her  people  have  given  their  lives  by  the  tens  of  thou- 
sands, civilians  and  soldiers,  to  this  cause  which  had  its  birth,  as 
I  say,  two  thousand  years  ago. 

And  my  friend  Vesnitch,  although  not  so  handsome  as  the 
beautiful  girl,  is  the  embodiment  of  the  spirit  of  Serbia. 


272       ONE  HUNDRED  PER  CENT  AMERICAN 


FOUR:     BY  HIS  EXCELLENCY,  M.  VESNITCH, 

Serbian 

You  very  probably  did  not  expect  to  hear  about  Serbia.  As 
you  will  be  obliged,  by  your  goodness,  to  remain  half  an  hour 
more  and  to  hear  about  Serbia,  I  ascribe  it  to  the  friendship  of 
his  Excellency,  Mr.  Myron  T.  Herrick,  who  has  had,  who  has, 
and  who  I  hope  will  continue  to  have,  for  Serbia  and  for  her 
representative  in  France  friendship  which  goes  to  a  point  where 
it  becomes  quite  partial  in  my  favor. 

Your  meeting  has  been  fixed  to-day  for  Belgium,  and  I  should 
not,  in  speaking  about  Serbia,  take  away  any  degree  of  the  im- 
pression which  this  angel  girl  left  upon  us  all  at  this  moment. 
Because  I  have  the  privilege  to  speak  to  you,  I  wish  to  tell  to  you 
that  the  case  of  Serbia  is  more  tragic,  if  possible,  than  that  of 
Belgium. 

And  to  begin  with  individual  experiences,  I  should  add  to 
this  girl's  story  that  I,  who  have  the  honor  to  speak  to  you,  had 
begun  to  suffer  when  I  was  five  years  old,  because  at  that  age  my 
poor  father  had  been  killed  for  his  love  of  country,  and  I  began 
my  service  in  hospitals  at  the  age  of  thirteen,  because  I  too  and 
all  my  brothers  and  sisters  wished  to  serve  our  country  as  much 
as  every  one  of  us  was  able  to  do,  and  when  your  President  said 
that  your  decision  should  have  taken  place  on  August  4th,  1914,  it 
comes  from  the  fact  that  you  are  not  and  you  were  not  aware  of 
the  situation  of  other  small  nations  which  are  in  the  same  case  as 
Belgium,  and  who  have  done  their  duty  in  the  same  way  and  with 
the  same  courage  as  Belgium,  which,  of  course,  does  not  in  any 
way  diminish  the  merit  and  glory  of  the  country  of  King  Albert. 

We  in  Europe  have  been  sure  that  America  will  not  stay  for 
long  time  aside,  and  we  have  been  sure  of  that  from  the  first  be- 
cause many  of  us  knew  your  history;  but  we  have  been  sure 
of  that  since  the  historic  day  that  the  Germans  dropped  their 
first  bombs  on  Paris,  and  at  the  moment — two  minutes  after — 
at  which  the  then  Ambassador  of  the  United  States,  Mr.  Myron 
T.  Herrick,  proclaimed,  and  his  words  will  remain  in  history, 
that  it  was  pity  that  these  bombs  did  not  kill  the  American  Am- 
bassador, because  that  would  decide  that  moment  the  United 
States  to  take  part. 

We  knew  and  we  know  that  there  were  in  your  guest  of 
to-day  personal  virtues  and  qualities — that  we  felt ;  and  we  knew 
that  there  was  in  him  besides  his  personal  qualities,  something 
which  is  part  of  you  all,  of  all  the  successors  of  Washington 


UNITED  STATES  AND  ITS  RESPONSIBILITIES     273 

and  of  Lincoln,  and  we  had  learned  a  French  saying  which  says 
"All  will  come — all  will  arrive — to  him  who  knows  how  to  wait." 
And  all  our  task,  all  the  tasks  of  France,  of  England,  of  little 
Serbia,  of  little  Belgium,  of  Italy,  of  Rumania,  have  been  con- 
centrated in  that  fact.  We  had  to  wait;  we  have  waited;  and  it 
has  arrived ;  and  from  the  moment  in  which  your  great  democracy 
has  decided  that  there  was  no  more  time  to  remain  apart,  that 
higher  duty  which  goes  over  a  nation,  which  imposes  obligations 
on  every  man,  on  every  country,  on  every  nation,  to  see  in  his 
neighbors'  sufferings  his  own  sufferings,  to  reject  the  violated 
justice;  that  America  and  the  American  people  were  not  a  nation 
who  would  and  who  could  close  their  ears  and  their  eyes,  and  that 
they  would  and  they  had  to  come,  and  from  the  day  in  which  your 
government  had  decided  to  take  part  in  this  war,  from  this  day 
brighter  sunshine  has  come  over  all  the  armies,  over  all  the  coun- 
tries, over  all  the  poor  suffering  peoples. 

From  that  day  we  were  sure  that  the  outraged  rights,  that  the 
violated  justice,  have  to  be  avenged,  and  that  they  will  be. 

But  before,  end  especially  from  that  day,  our  enemies  have 
taken  in  their  hancs  a  new  weapon.  From  being  lions  and  wolves 
they  now  would  Ike  to  play  the  part  of  the  lambs,  and  they 
now,  all  over  the  world,  send  the  messages  of  peace,  of  humanity, 
fraternity,  and  brave  the  counsels  of  necessity,  that  human  blood 
shall  not  be  shed  more. 

For  centuries  and  especially  for  the  last  forty  years,  these 
men  have  every  day  forged  the  arms  to  crush  down  the  civilized 
world  and  to  make  of  them  their  slaves.  The  superman,  the 
Teuton,  the  supernation,  the  German,  had  to  command  and  the 
rest  of  the  world  had  to  obey.  They  think,  they  believe,  in  this 
moment,  that  they  are  arrived  at  this  point,  and  of  course  they  in 
this  moment  preach  peace,  because,  in  the  present  conditions 
for  the  Allies,  the  peace  which  would  be  made  to-day  would  be 
a  German  peace,  would  be  the  accomplishment  of  German  ten- 
dencies, of  German  desires,  of  German  resolutions.  Patience  has 
given  us  the  Marne,  and,  as  Ambassador  Herrick  told  to  you, 
it  is  certainly  one  of  the  greatest  moments  in  the  history  of  the 
world.  The  patience  and  the  righteousness  of  the  cause  of  the 
Allies  has  been  successfully  brought  to  us,  you  here  and  the  first- 
line  peoples,  and  the  peoples,  one  could  say,  all  the  honest  nations 
of  the  world.  The  patience  and  sentiment  of  duty  to  every  one's 
country  and  to  the  general  cause  has  imposed  upon  the  peoples 
who  are  allies  the  silence  of  their  individual  and  selfish  interests 
and  the  concentration  of  all  our  thought  to  one  purpose,  to 
victory.  This  patience  and  this  obligation  have  brought  the  pub- 
lic men  in  every  European  country,  one  can  say,  to  the  con- 


274   ONE  HUNDRED  PER  CENT  AMERICAN 

viction  that  there  was  a  moment  in  which  in  the  internal  life  of 
every  nation  there  must  be  made  an  armistice;  that  every  one 
of  us  has  just  to  put  somewhere  safe,  his  political  and  personal 
opinion,  and  that  every  one  of  us  has  to  look  on  that  insignia 
there.  That  conviction  has  worked  miracles  in  Europe.  Three 
months  ago  M.  Poincaire  and  M.  Clemenceau  were  men  who 
did  not  greet  each  other.  Within  two  months  and  a  half  M.  Poin- 
caire was  made  President  of  the  French  Republic  and  M.  Cle- 
menceau his  Prime  Minister. 

We  are  most  unhappy;  I  speak  like  a  simple  soldier,  in  the 
great  Allied  army.  I  represent  one  of  the  smallest  nations,  one 
of  the  nations  which,  technically,  militarily  speaking,  has  not  much 
to  offer  to  the  Allies,  because,  what  we  had  we  have  given  it; 
but  we  have  something  more.  We  have  about  one  hundred  thou- 
sand soldiers  more.  That  is,  one  hundred  thousand  soldiers  are 
ready  to  give  their  lives  for  our  country,  but  at  the  same  time, 
for  the  great,  for  the  noble  cause  for  which  all  Allies  fight  in 
this  moment;  and  we  are  sure  that  in  all  of  the  Allied  countries 
this  consciousness  of  the  tragedy  of  the  moment,  this  same  spirit 
will  inspire  all  men,  of  whom  the  most  modest  one  bears  on  his 
shoulders  a  part  of  the  responsibility  and  at  the  same  time  of  the 
glory  of  his  country. 

His  excellency  said  that  during  twenty  centuries  this  fight  has 
been  going  on.  I  ask  the  permission  to  add  to  this  only  two  or 
three  words.  The  autocracy  on  one  side,  the  democracy  on  the 
other  side,  fight  against  each  other.  One  could  say,  since  the 
world  exists,  it  is  the  evil  fighting  against  the  good ;  but  since  we 
are  in  history,  the  autocracy  is  represented  by  nations  belonging 
to  the  German  race ;  the  democracy  is  represented  by  nations  who 
in  one  or  in  another  way  belong  to  the  Celtic  races.  And  nowa- 
days these  two  principles  are  personified,  on  one  side  by  Germany 
and  autocracy,  and  on  the  other  side  by  nations  belonging  in  one 
or  another  way  to  the  Celtic  races,  representing  the  principles  of 
democracy. 

I  shall  not  keep  you  longer  with  the  development  of  these 
truths,  but  I  ask  permission  to  quote  only  one  fact  known  to 
any  of  you :  with  democracy  goes  all  the  high  ideals  of  human- 
kind ;  with  autocracy  the  contrary.  The  German  poets,  the  Ger- 
man painters,  the  German  musicians,  have  never  found  an  ideal 
in  their  own  history.  When  Schiller  was  anxious  to  give  to  his 
country  an  ideal,  a  personification  of  liberty-loving  peoples,  he 
went  to  France  and  he  took  the  Maid  of  Orleans,  or  he  went 
to  Switzerland  and  he  took  William  Tell.  He  was  not  able  to  find 
it  in  Germany.  And  when  Goethe,  the  greatest  materialist,  had 
to  present  to  his  nation  a  type  of  civic  courage,  he  did  not  find  it 


UNITED  STATES  AND  ITS  RESPONSIBILITIES     275 

in  Germany.    In  the  music,  in  the  painting,  and  so  on,  I  could  give 
to  you  many  and  many  examples. 

Is  the  human  race  to  undergo  the  German  domination,  to 
abdicate  all  that  makes  man  dignified  to  be  a  man,  and  to  be- 
come slaves  and  soldiers  of  the  Kaiser,  or  is  the  human  race 
to  go  the  way  of  freedom,  or  justice,  or  fraternity?  I  know 
your  decision.  Well,  knowing  your  decision,  I  am  sure  of  the  end 
of  this  trouble  as  I  am  sure  of  the  fact  of  standing  here  before 
you  at  a  quarter  to  five.  I  thank  you  for  the  kindness  with  which 
you  have  allowed  me  to  speak  for  a  moment  to  you.  I  am  not 
sixteen  years  old,  and  I  have  not  been  in  a  college,  neither  at  Cam- 
bridge nor  at  Columbia,  so  my  English,  of  course,  is  very  broken ; 
but  my  heart  and  your  heart  are  strong,  and  we  understand  each 
other  even  if  our  grammar  or  syntax  is  false  in  our  language. 


FIVE:    BY  REVEREND  WILLIAM  F.  PIERCE 

President  Kenyon  College 

I  am  keenly  conscious  of  the  brutal  cruelty  of  detaining  you 
longer  than  this  present  moment,  and  I  am  also  so  conscious  of 
my  own  inadequacy  and  unworthiness  that,  for  the  first  time  in  my 
life,  I  think,  I  can  remember  the  biting  words  of  Bernard  Shaw 
about  the  teaching  profession,  without  resentment: 

"He  who  can,  does ;  he  who  cannot,  teaches." 

You  have  been  listening  to  those  who  have  done,  and  now  you 
are  asked  to  listen  for  a  few  moments  to  some  one  who  is  merely 
teaching.  However,  on  behalf  of  Kenyon  College,  I  am  not  alto- 
gether without  excuse  for  detaining  you  a  moment  this  afternoon, 
since  this  is,  in  some  real  sense,  an  occasion  in  which  Kenyon 
College  has  a  personal  part. 

It  is  about  ten  years  since  the  faculty  of  that  institution  de- 
cided to  honor  at  the  annual  commencement  with  the  highest  de- 
gree in  the  gift  of  the  college,  Doctor  of  Laws,  one  of  the  most 
brilliant  members  of  the  New  York  delegation  in  Congress,  a 
gentleman  whom  I  have  for  many  years  had  the  honor  of  num- 
bering among  my  intimate  personal  friends  and  whom  I  dearly 
love,  the  Chairman  of  your  Committee  on  Arrangements  this 
afternoon,  the  Honorable  J.  Van  Vechten  Olcott.  In  the  same 
class  with  him  was  graduated  with  this  same  honor  the  Governor 
of  Ohio  to  whom  you  have  listened  to-day,  one  of  the  best  and 
most  efficient  Governors  that  Ohio  has  ever  had,  a  Governor  too 


276   ONE  HUNDRED  PER  CENT  AMERICAN 

good,  indeed,  for  many  of  the  citizens  of  that  State  fully  to  ap- 
preciate. Not  long  after  his  term  expired,  however,  an  hour 
came,  when  the  man  and  the  occasion  met,  and  to-day  the  State 
of  Ohio,  the  whole  United  States,  realizes  that  in  the  speaker  of 
this  afternoon  we  have  listened  to  an  American  who,  although 
without  public  office  for  the  moment,  is  supremely  the  citizen  of 
the  whole  world.  Wherever  the  history  of  diplomacy  of  the 
twentieth  century  is  written,  the  contribution  which  the  American 
Ambassador  made  in  those  fateful  days  of  August  and  September, 
1914,  in  those  first  months  of  the  war,  will  be  remembered  as  a 
supreme  example  of  brilliant  and  efficient  diplomacy,  and  of 
courage  and  of  heroism. 

You  remember  that  in  the  days  of  the  "Red  Terror"  in  France, 
the  only  member  of  the  diplomatic  corps  who  remained  and  who 
defied  Robespierre  and  his  fellow  revolutionists  in  the  name  of  the 
principles  of  law-loving  liberty  for  which  the  United  States  stood, 
was  a  citizen  of  your  own  State,  the  American  Ambassador  of 
that  day,  Gouverneur  Morris.  In  the  beginning  of  this  world  con- 
flict, the  American  Ambassador,  Myron  T.  Herrick,  was  the  only 
diplomat  who  remained  in  Paris  in  the  face  of  the  oncoming  Ger- 
man Army. 

I  think  you  will  agree  with  me,  therefore,  that  the  faculty  of 
Kenyon  College  chose  very  wisely  on  that  Commencement  Day  in 
conferring  the  degree  of  Doctor  of  Laws  on  these  two  gentlemen 
who  are  present  this  afternoon. 

And,  in  this  present  conflict,  Kenyon  has  done,  I  believe,  its 
full  duty  as  a  college.  Whatever  errors,  whatever  shortcomings, 
it  may  be  guilty  of,  it  has  certainly  not  been  remiss  in  teaching 
sound  patriotism  and  a  sense  of  loyal  citizenship.  For  the  last 
twenty  years,  this  small  college  for  young  men  has  had  an  average 
student  attendance  of  a  trifle  less  than  120.  Two  hundred  and 
nineteen  of  its  sons  are  at  present  serving  their  country.  The 
college  is  doing  something  in  the  present,  as  it  has  done  in  the 
past. 

With  reference  to  the  personal  matter  to  which  your  Chairman 
has  made  reference,  may  I  tell  you  very  briefly  that  within  the 
past  two  or  three  months  I  have  been  asked  by  the  Land  Division 
of  the  Red  Cross,  covering  the  States  of  Ohio,  Indiana  and  Ken- 
tucky, to  represent  them  officially  on  the  platform ;  and  that  very 
recently  arrangements  have  been  made,  through  the  national 
headquarters,  for  me  to  go  to  the  other  side  for  two  or  three 
months  of  investigation  and  observation  of  the  actual  work  of 
that  organization  in  France,  in  order  that,  on  my  return,  I  may  in 
some  trifling  way  help  to  keep  the  people  of  those  States  conscious 
of  their  duty  and  responsibility  in  this  great  crisis. 


UNITED  STATES  AND  ITS  RESPONSIBILITIES     Til 

I  have  been  a  very  happy  man  since  this  opportunity  came  to 
me.  We  all  of  us  want  to  do  something.  I  had  hoped  that  I 
was  doing  a  trifle  indirectly  through  the  young  men  with  whom  I 
was  associated,  but  the  privilege  of  seeing  the  great  thing  oneself, 
and  of  communicating  the  ideas  and  inspiration  which  one  must 
get  on  the  other  side  to  the  people  in  one's  own  State,  is  a  high 
and  noble  privilege  indeed ;  for  we  are  now  fighting  a  battle  which 
is  absolutely  critical,  both  in  the  material  and  in  the  spiritual 
sense,  for  the  destiny  of  America. 

In  the  first  days  of  the  war  I  saw  in  a  Berlin  illustrated  paper 
a  symbolic  presentation  of  the  spirit  of  Germany.  "Germania" 
was  the  only  inscription  below.  You  know  the  lofty  figure 
which  in  New  York  harbor  welcomes  every  liberty-seeking  citi- 
zen to  our  shores.  You  know  how  we  conceive  the  serene  and 
stately  figure  of  Columbia.  "Germania"  was  a  very  different 
sort  of  goddess  indeed.  A  long  line  of  marching  men  in  Prus- 
sian uniform,  with  spiked  helmets,  were  on  the  ground,  and  above 
in  the  clouds  hovered  an  angry  goddess  clad  in  armor  and  helmet 
and  bearing  in  her  upraised  right  hand  an  unsheathed  sword  ready 
to  strike  death  and  destruction  to  the  enemies  of  her  sons  on 
the  earth. 

That  sword  is  uplifted  to-day  against  us;  the  hatred  is  deep 
and  bitter ;  and  if  America  is  not,  as  the  long  scroll  of  history  un- 
rolls to  take  her  place  among  those  organizations  that  have  passed, 
along  with  Assyria,  Persia,  Greece,  the  Roman  Empire  and  many 
others,  if  she  is  not  to  take  her  place  among  those  governments 
which  have  died,  she  must  march  straight  on  and  through  to 
victory  in  this  great  war. 

No  sharper  contrast  could  be  imagined  than  the  square  and 
definite  challenge  as  to  ideas  and  principles  which  the  powers  of 
Central  Europe  now  offer  to  America.  In  our  Constitution,  for 
the  first  time  perhaps  in  more  than  eighteen  centuries,  the  prin- 
ciples of  Christian  brotherhood  were  written  into  the  fundamental 
law  of  a  nation.  Those  principles  are  squarely  challenged  and 
negated  in  the  position  which  Germany  takes  with  reference  to 
those  fundamental  questions  of  liberty,  of  justice,  of  the  rights 
of  man. 

In  this  particular  season,  it  is  natural  that  Christians  should 
remember  the  forty  days  of  temptation  of  our  blessed  Lord.  The 
supreme  temptation  which  the  Devil  offered,  the  culminating  one, 
was  a  view  from  a  high  mountain  showing  all  the  kingdoms  of 
this  world,  and  adding,  "All  these  things  will  I  give  thee  if  thou 
wilt  fall  down  and  worship  me."  To-day  we  are  facing  a  power 
whose  emperor,  whose  administrators,  and  whose  citizenship  have 
adopted  that  principle  and  paid  that  price. 


278   ONE  HUNDRED  PER  CENT  AMERICAN 

After  listening  to  the  lovely  young  girl  clad  in  the  Belgian 
national  costume,  you  cannot  but  appreciate  that  the  marks  of 
diabolism,  the  marks  of  devotion  to  Satan  and  to  the  cause  of 
darkness,  become  clear  and  distinct  indeed  in  the  world  of  ideas 
and  in  the  principles  of  action.  When  Professor  Lasson,  of  the 
University  of  Berlin,  states  that  there  can  be  no  law  between 
nations ;  when  a  Privy  Counsellor  of  the  Empire,  Joseph  Kohler, 
head  of  that  Department  in  the  University  of  Berlin,  states  that 
the  international  law  of  the  future  shall  be  dictated  by  Germany, 
you  can  come  to  appreciate,  not  simply  from  the  acts  of  the  sol- 
diery, nor  from  the  orders  of  the  government,  but  with  reference 
to  those  fundamental  principles  upon  which  governments  are 
based,  that  the  German  Empire  embodies  the  principle  of  Satan- 
ism and  of  darkness  as  applied  to  the  relations  between  man  and 
man. 

And  upon  us,  then,  is  incumbent  the  high  privilege  and  respon- 
sibility of  bearing  our  part  in  this  great  struggle.  At  first,  we 
thought  it  might  be  indirect  and  a  minor  one.  Then  we  became 
conscious  that  we  must  enter  the  war,  and  must  supply,  of  our 
money  and  our  property,  aid  to  the  Allied  cause.  We  have  now 
come  to  realize  that  our  part  is  a  principal  one.  It  may,  conceiv- 
ably be  a  decisive  one  in  that  long  warfare  which  has  been  going 
on  since  the  beginning  of  the  world  between  the  principles  of  light 
and  of  darkness. 

It  is  for  us,  then,  to  consecrate  all  that  we  have  and  all  that 
we  are  to  the  cause  of  our  Allies,  to  the  cause  of  murdered  Bel- 
gium and  Serbia,  and  to  the  cause  of  America,  which  is  the 
cause  of  the  eternal  principles  of  truth  and  justice  and  righteous- 
ness. 


EIGHTH   DISCUSSION 

FEBRUARY   TWENTY-THIRD,    I918 
CANADA  IN  THE  WAR 


CANADA  IN  THE  WAR 


ONE:     BY  ROBERT  W.  BONYNGE 

President,  Republican  Club  of  New  York 

Before  I  proceed  to  the  discharge  of  the  very  pleasant  duty 
that  the  Chairman  has  assigned  to  me,  I  want  to  take  advantage 
of  this,  the  first  opportunity  I  have  had  this  year,  to  do  what 
I  know  the  Chairman  of  the  Saturday  Discussions  Committee 
did  not  expect  me  to  do,  but  which  I  am  very  sure  all  of  you 
would  be  glad  to  have  me  do,  and  that  is,  to  express  on  behalf 
of  the  Club  our  sincere  thanks  and  our  congratulations  also,  to 
the  Chairman  of  the  Saturday  Discussions  Committee  and  his 
associates  on  that  Committee  for  the  brilliant  success  of  this 
season's  meetings. 

Each  meeting  has  been  of  a  distinctive  character,  and  all  of 
them  have  been  grand  successes.  The  impression  left  on  us  at 
the  close  of  each  meeting  being  the  freshest  and  the  keenest,  has 
been  that  each  meeting  has  surpassed  in  enthusiasm  and  interest 
its  predecessors.  I  feel  this  afternoon  that  we  must  have  reached 
the  climax  of  this  very  remarkable  series.  I  measure  my  words 
when  I  say  that  I  do  not  believe  the  membership  of  any  organi- 
zation anywhere  in  the  country  has  been  privileged  to  hear  such 
a  remarkable  series  of  patriotic  addresses  on  the  war  and  all  of 
its  phases  as  we  have  listened  to  in  this  room  this  winter. 

We  have  with  us  as  guests  distinguished  citizens  of  the  Do- 
minion of  Canada  and  other  guests  who  are  either  citizens  or 
residents  of  this  country,  former  Canadians;  and,  as  the  Presi- 
dent of  the  Club,  I  want  to  testify  to  them  how  sincerely  and  how 
thoroughly  we  appreciate  the  honor  of  their  presence  with  us 
to-day.  We  honor  them  not  alone  because  of  our  admiration  for 
them  as  men  and  as  individuals,  and  I  assure  them  that  is  very 
great  and  very  sincere  ;  but,  above  all,  because  they  are  the  worthy 
representatives  of  that  great  people  who  live  across  the  imagi- 
nary northern  boundary  line  of  our  country,  and  to  whom  we 
are  bound  by  every  tie  of  kinship,  of  friendship,  of  love  and 
affection,  and  now,  more  than  ever,  of  purpose,  of  aspiration  and 
of  determination. 

We  know  the  noble  and  heroic  part  that  your  people  have 

281 


282   ONE  HUNDRED  PER  CENT  AMERICAN 

taken  in  this  great  struggle,  not  alone  for  the  defense  of  the 
rights  of  Canada,  or  of  the  mother-country  to  which  you  are  so 
proud  to  own  allegiance,  but  in  defense  of  our  rights  and  of 
the  rights  of  civilization  and  humanity  generally.  The  sacri- 
fices your  people  have  made,  the  losses  they  have  sustained  so 
uncomplainingly,  and  the  lives  of  your  brave  sons  that  you 
have  so  freely  given  in  this  cause  have  increased,  if  possible, 
the  profound  admiration  we  have  always  entertained  for  the 
people  of  Canada.  The  reports  and  the  stories  that  have  come 
to  us  of  the  courage  and  bravery  of  your  brave  sons,  of  their 
deeds  of  valor  and  heroism,  at  Vimy  Ridge,  at  Lens,  in  the 
trenches  and  in  all  the  battlefields  of  the  Western  front,  have 
kindled  the  spirit  of  enthusiasm  and  patriotism  in  the  hearts 
of  the  youth  of  our  land,  and  they  have  waited  impatiently,  oh 
how  impatiently,  for  the  call  to  the  colors,  that  they  might  share 
with  you  the  burdens  of  the  conflict  and  the  glory  of  the  victory 
that  is  to  come. 

Some  of  them  could  not  wait  for  the  call.  They  crossed 
that  imaginary  northern  boundary  line  and  enlisted  in  your  regi- 
ments with  your  boys,  and  they  went  across  the  seas  and  some 
of  them  fell;  and  thus  the  blood  of  your  sons  and  the  blood  of 
our  sons  has  mingled  upon  the  same  battlefield  in  defense  of 
the  same  cause,  and  a  bond  of  union  has  been  established  be- 
tween our  peoples  which,  please  God,  may  never  be  broken. 

But  at  last  the  call  has  come;  our  boys  are  "over  there," 
four  hundred,  five  hundred,  or  six  hundred  thousand — we  do  not 
know  the  numbers ;  the  censor  does  not  let  us  know ;  perhaps 
the  Germans  do — but  let  me  assure  you  that  whatever  the  num- 
ber may  be  now,  there  are  millions  more,  yes,  five  or  ten 
millions,  waiting  for  the  call  and  ready  to  go  and  "do 
their  bit." 

We  have  given  our  word  to  the  world,  and  it  will  not  be 
broken,  that  we  are  ready  to  sacrifice  all  of  our  resources,  our 
wealth  and  the  lives  of  our  dear  sons  in  this  cause  that  you  and 
our  other  Allies  have  so  nobly  defended  for  us  during  more 
than  the  three  years  last  past.  We  are  in  this  war  to  the  finish. 
We  do  not  want  any  inconclusive  or  patched-up  peace.  We 
feel  that  there  can  be  no  lasting  peace  in  the  world  until  victory 
has  been  won,  and  we  are  prepared  to  stay  in  the  fight  until  that 
victory  has  been  won.  And,  when  it  comes,  as  come  it  must, 
and  your  sons  and  our  sons,  those  of  them  that  may  be  spared, 
return  to  their  loved  ones  and  to  their  grateful  countries,  may 
this  friendship  that  has  existed  for  more  than  one  hundred 
years  between  your  people  and  our  people,  last  for  countless 
ages  to  come,  and  may  we  continue  to  dwell  in  bonds  of  most 


CANADA  IN  THE  WAR  283 

intimate  and  friendly  and  commercial  and  social  intercourse. 
May  these  two  governments  living  on  this  continent  dedicated  to 
freedom,  the  offsprings  of  the  same  mother-country,  continue 
to  be  the  guardians  of  the  liberty  of  their  own  people  and  the 
defenders  of  right  and  justice  and  of  civilization  and  humanity 
the  world  over. 

Distinguished  guests,  on  behalf  of  the  Republican  Club  and 
in  its  name,  I  bid  you  one  and  all  welcome,  thrice  welcome,  to 
the  Republican  Club  House. 


TWO:     BY  SIR  EDMUND  WALKER,  C.V.O.,  LL.D.,  D.C.L. 

I  am  to  speak  to  you  this  afternoon  about  Canada's  part  in 
the  war,  so  far  as  that  can  be  sketchily  dealt  with  in  the  short 
time  at  our  disposal.  I  realize  that  I  am  talking  to  an  audience 
unusually  alert,  keen  and  intelligent.  I  shall  try  not  to  be  boast- 
ful, although  the  greatest  of  Canada's  orators  urged  all  Cana- 
dians to  boast  about  their  country.  But  I  shall  not  use  any 
camouflage  or  waste  any  words,  because  I  have  a  great  deal 
to  say  and  I  should  like  to  say  all  I  can. 

Now,  we  Canadians  have  been  lately  amused  and  amazed 
somewhere  at  a  series  of  articles  in  the  New  York  "Times"  by  a 
gentleman  writing  under  the  name  of  "An  American  Jurist." 
The  articles  about  Canada  have  been  sufficiently  answered  by 
Americans  themselves,  and  need  no  treatment  on  my  part;  but 
they  cause  one  to  understand  how  easy  it  is  for  an  intelligent 
and  honest-minded  and  not  unkindly  man  to  live  alongside  of 
another  country  and  to  fail  utterly  to  understand  that  country; 
and  I  am  going  to  speak  to  you  this  afternoon  with  the  idea 
in  my  mind  that  there  are  many  intelligent  Americans  who  have 
not  read  the  history  of  Canada  and  who  do  not  understand 
entirely  the  impulses  which  move  the  people  to  the  north,  and 
if  I  tell  you  many  of  the  things  which  you  know  quite  well,  I  hope 
you  will  forgive  me,  in  the  interest  of  those  who  may  not  know 
them  quite  so  well. 

Now,  when  we  realize  this  lack  of  understanding  on  the  part 
of  Americans  it  hurts  us  even  more  than  what  Kipling  indicates 
in  his  hymn  or  song  to  the  "Native-born"  : 

"We've  drunk  to  the  Queen — God  bless  her! 
We've  drunk  to  our  mother's  land; 
We've  drunk  to  our  English  brother 
(But  he  does  not  understand)." 


284   ONE  HUNDRED  PER  CENT  AMERICAN 

I  wish  this  afternoon  to  take  up,  in  introduction,  the  kind  of 
experiences  which  caused  the  Canadian  people  to  act  as  they 
did.  We  realize  that  we  owe  to  two  great  American  scholars, 
George  Louis  Beer,  one  of  the  most  distinguished  sons  of  Colum- 
bia, and  Clarence  W.  Alvord,  the  knowledge  which  we  have  and 
which  all  people  have  about  the  development  of  the  colonial 
system  of  Great  Britain  from  Elizabethan  times.  But  while 
we  realize  that,  we  fail,  all  of  us,  to  realize  sufficiently  that  the 
greatest  good  fortune  that  happened  to  the  British  Empire  was 
the  loss  of  the  Thirteen  Colonies ;  because  it  was  in  consequence 
of  the  loss  of  the  Thirteen  Colonies  that  the  spirit  of  the  remain- 
ing colonists  of  Great  Britain,  and  especially  the  remaining 
colonists  of  North  America,  caused  them  to  enter  on  those 
struggles,  generally  parliamentary  but  sometimes  struggles  of 
bloodshed,  in  order  to  secure  for  themselves  an  autonomy  so 
complete  that  they  are  not  only  the  freest  of  the  republics  of  the 
world,  but,  in  the  case  of  Australia,  I  suppose  the  most  ad- 
vanced democracy  in  the  world. 

Now,  Americans  have  not  always  understood  that  the  United 
States  is  not  the  most  advanced  democracy,  nor  have  they  under- 
stood that  the  overseas  dominions  of  Great  Britain  consist  of  a 
series  of  modern  democracies  made  free  as  they  are  because  of 
the  terrible  mistakes  that  Great  Britain  made  when  she  allowed 
the  Thirteen  Colonies  to  find  a  reason  for  departing  from  her. 

Now  let  us  consider  the  kind  of  people  that  Canada  is  com- 
posed of.  First  we  have  the  French  Canadian  people  who  have 
chosen  to  be  aloof  from  the  rest  of  North  America,  and  who 
will  stay  aloof,  more  or  less,  from  North  America,  whose  peculi- 
arity you  may  realize  as  business  men,  when  I  tell  you  that  for 
nearly  two  generations  after  the  Conquest  of  Quebec  they  still 
valued  the  coins  they  had  used  before  the  Conquest,  and  still 
clung  to  them  because  they  were  used  to  keeping  their  accounts 
in  those  coins. 

But  the  other  parts  of  Canada  were  settled  by  those  people 
born,  in  many  cases,  on  the  North  American  continent,  many 
of  them  British,  but  sometimes  of  Dutch  or  Swiss  or  even  of  Ger- 
man descent,  who  chose  not  to  stand  with  the  Thirteen  Colonies, 
but  who  chose  to  go  into  the  forests  and  gain  a  new  home  for 
themselves  in  Upper  Canada.  These  people  are  intensely  British, 
more  British  than  the  English,  if  anything.  They  respond  in- 
stantly to  the  call  of  anything  that  influences  the  British  Empire. 

Then  we  have  the  Scotch  people  all  over  Canada ;  but  we 
have  particularly  the  Highlanders  of  Cape  Breton,  Pictou  or  Glen- 
garry, those  of  Cape  Breton  speaking  almost  entirely  Gaelic,  as 
is  the  case  in  Glengarry.    And  we  have  the  descendants  of  the 


CANADA  IN  THE  WAR  285 

fur  traders,  largely  Scotch,  who  left  the  North  of  Scotland  and 
settled  in  the  northwest,  people  who  knew  that  when  they  put 
"H.  B."  in  front  of  a  prairie  schooner  they  were  free  from 
marauders  and  from  any  kind  of  thing. 

Then  we  have  the  people  like  myself,  descendants  of  English 
people  who  came  to  Canada  because  they  were  poor  and  came 
to  better  their  condition. 

We  have  many  other  kinds  of  Canadians;  but  I  have  tried 
to  show  you  that  clanship  is  a  great  thing.  One  or  two  Cana- 
dian stories  which  will  illustrate  just  exactly  what  clanship 
means:  The  Governor-General  who  was  a  Canadian  of  Jacobin 
Catholic  descent  in  Glengarry,  invited  John  Greenfield  Mac- 
Dougal,  a  member  of  Parliament  from  Glengarry,  to  dine  with 
him.  He  declined  at  once,  but  feeling  that  was  not  sufficiently 
clear  to  the  Governor-General,  he  added,  "When  did  a  Mac- 
Dougal  sup  with  a  Campbell?" 

And  when  a  wealthy  American  gentleman  named  Frazier, 
enamored  of  descriptions  of  Canada,  went  to  Cape  Breton  some 
years  ago,  he  asked  a  local  Highland  Scotch  Canadian  at  the 
station  to  get  his  bag  and  carry  it  for  him.  After  the  Scotch- 
man had  carried  it  a  mile  or  so,  his  eye  happened  to  light  on 
the  label.  That  was  enough.  He  dropped  the  bag  in  the  road 
and  struck  off,  with  "Am  I  a  dog,  that  I  should  carry  the  bag 
of  a  Frazier?" 

These  are  the  people  who  chose  to  be  colonists  of  Great 
Britain,  but  who  succeeded  by  one  fight  after  another  in  wresting 
from  Great  Britain  an  autonomy  so  complete  that  it  leaves  noth- 
ing but  a  silken  thread  and  the  bonds  of  blood,  which  you  know 
are  stronger  than  a  feeling  of  loyalty  to  rules  of  Parliament  or 
any  other  feeling.  Canada,  as  we  said,  fought  Downing  Street 
for  every  species  of  right ;  nevertheless  tribal  feeling  is  stronger 
than  the  laws  of  any  Parliament,  and  our  men  rushed  to  the 
colors  because  of  the  blood  that  was  in  them  and  because  of  the 
dear  people  at  home  with  whom  they  were  still  connected.  We 
did  not,  as  you  know,  hesitate  a  moment,  because  Great  Britain 
had  pledged  her  word  to  Belgium  and  we  saw  that  she  needed 
every  son  of  the  Empire  to  enable  her  to  redeem  her  pledge; 
not  because  it  was  the  greatest  cause  that  the  world  has  ever 
known,  and  I  will  not  pretend  for  a  moment  that  that  was  the 
reason  that  they  rushed  to  the  colors.  It  was  because  England 
was  in  danger. 

Now,  our  people  were  undoubtedly  moved  by  what  another 
friend  of  the  North  wrote  in  1861,  when  Mrs.  Browning  said  in 
expressing  her  confidence  in  your  great  republic,  that 

"The  stain  upon  the  honor  must  come  off  upon  the  flag." 


286   ONE  HUNDRED  PER  CENT  AMERICAN 

This  time  the  flag  was  the  Union  Jack  which  we  love  as  pas- 
sionately as  you  love  the  Stars  and  Stripes.  Our  people  knew 
that  Great  Britain  had  made  her  pledge  to  Belguim,  and  that  in- 
stant they  saw  that  any  stain  upon  our  honor  must  come  off 
upon  our  flag,  and  that  was  what  made  our  people  act  and  act 
quickly.  And  so  we  said  to  the  mother,  if  I  may  quote  Kipling 
again, 

"Gifts  have  we  only  today, 

Love  without  promise  or  fee ; 
Hear,  for  thy  children  speak 
From  the  uttermost  parts  of  the  sea !" 

Now,  you  remember  that  July  of  1914,  the  anxiety,  the  hopes, 
the  fears,  the  uncertainties,  as  to  whether  England  would  be  in 
the  war  or  not.  Before  that  month  was  over,  men  from  all  parts 
of  Canada  were  offering  either  militia  regiments  already  in  ex- 
istence, or  to  raise  regiments ;  and  one  man  telegraphed  from 
Winnipeg  as  early  as  the  fifth  of  August : 

"It  is  war  to  the  death  and  one  or  other  of  the  warring  nations 
will  go  down.  That  will  not  be  Great  Britain.  They  have  struck 
at  the  British  Empire  of  which  Canada  is  a  forceful  part.  Let 
us  show  them  of  what  stuff  we  are  made." 

Turning  from  the  other  for  a  moment,  on  the  third  of  August, 
at  twelve  o'clock  at  night,  I  was  asleep  in  my  country  home, 
fifty-three  miles  from  Toronto.  A  man  came  across  the  lake  with 
a  telegram  indicating  that  I  was  wanted  in  Ottawa  on  the  fourth 
of  August,  on  Monday  afternoon.  This  was  Sunday  night.  I 
called  my  son  and  he  spent  a  couple  of  hours  in  making  sure  that 
his  car  could  meet  all  requirements.  I  caught  the  morning  train 
at  Toronto,  was  in  Ottawa  at  four  o'clock  in  the  afternoon,  met 
there  the  other  finance  ministers  and  the  other  bankers,  and  at 
eight  o'clock  we  had  prepared  and  the  Government  had  con- 
firmed a  series  of  orders  in  council,  which  would  make  it  un- 
necessary to  have  a  single  bank  holiday  and  to  make  it  possible 
for  anybody  to  have  free  discount  facilities ;  and  the  machinery 
has  never  changed  since  war  begun;  but  machinery  un- 
doubtedly not  used  because  of  the  efficiency  of  the  machinery 
if  it  had  to  be  put  into  force. 

We  did  not  hesitate;  we  rushed  to  the  colors.  Why,  the 
war  was  declared  on  the  fourth  of  August,  and  on  the  sixth  of 
August  the  orders  for  the  enlistment  of  the  first  contingent  were 
passed  by  Parliament.  We  were  just  two  days  in  discussing  in 
Parliament  what  we  would  do.  By  the  twenty-first  of  August, 
in  seventeen  days,  we  had  raised  that  regiment  which  is  now 


CANADA  IN  THE  WAR  287 

immortal,  called  after  the  Princess  Patricia.  The  Princess  Pats 
began,  the  other  soldiers  followed,  the  trip  to  Valcartier ;  and  by 
the  twenty-second  of  September,  that  is,  in  one  month  and  one 
day,  the  embarkation  of  troops  began,  which  was  finished  on  the 
first  of  October,  from  Gaspe,  a  particular  place  that  I  don't 
even  to  this  day  know  the  location  of.  Thirty-two  transports  and 
ten  warships  carried  33,000  men  and  7,500  horses,  arriving  in 
Plymouth  on  the  fourteenth  of  October,  two  months  and  ten 
days  after  the  war  broke  out. 

The  credit  for  that  was  due  very  largely  to  a  man  who  has, 
since  then,  been  greatly  under  criticism  because,  as  old  Sir  David 
Beers  said,  "He  was  difficult  to  get  -along  with,"  Sir  Samuel 
Hughes.  He  made  this  address  to  his  men  when  he  said  good- 
bye to  them: 

"Within  six  weeks  you  were  at  your  homes,  peaceful  Cana- 
dian citizens.  Since  then  your  training  camp  has  been  secured ; 
three  and  a  half  miles  of  rifle  ranges — twice  as  long  as  any  other 
in  the  world — were  constructed ;  fences  were  removed ;  water  of 
the  purest  quality  was  laid  in  miles  of  pipes ;  drainage  was  per- 
fected ;  electric  light  was  installed ;  crops  were  harvested ;  roads 
and  bridges  were  built ;  ordnance  and  army  service  corps  build- 
ings were  erected;  railway  sidings  were  laid  down;  woods  were 
cleared;  sanitation  was  perfected  so  that  illness  was  practically 
unknown,  and  33,000  men  were  assembled  from  points,  some 
of  them  upwards  of  4,000  miles  apart.  You  have  been  perfected 
in  rifle  shooting  and  to-day  are  as  fine  a  body — officers  and  men 
— as  ever  faced  a  foe.  The  same  spirit  as  accomplished  that 
great  work  is  what  you  will  display  on  the  war  fields  of 
Europe." 

Well  at  that  time,  our  idea  of  what  we  ought  to  do  was  to 
raise  50,000  men  and  maintain  that  number  in  the  field.  Well, 
there  followed,  after  their  arrival  at  Plymouth,  the  only  unex- 
citing and  dreary  time  that  the  Canadians  have  had  since  the 
war  begun,  that  is  the  winter  on  the  mud  flats  of  Salisbury.  It 
was  not  such  an  unlivery  time  for  the  farmers,  because  there 
was  a  great  call  for  extra  locks  on  the  hen-coops! 

Step  by  step,  we  had  to  realize  that  we  must  raise  more  than 
the  fifty  thousand  men  we  promised  at  first ;  and  finally  we  de- 
cided to  try  and  place  in  the  field  five  hundred  thousand  men 
instead  of  the  original  fifty  thousand.  Five  hundred  thousand 
is  about  the  equivalent  of  six  and  a  half  million  men  from  the 
United  States.  We  have  raised  from  425,000  to  450,000  men, 
then  resorted  to  the  draft  to  complete  our  number.     I  think  the 


288   ONE  HUNDRED  PER  CENT  AMERICAN 

draft  is  the  truly  democratic  principle  of  raising  an  army.  But, 
let  me  say  to  you,  as  a  Canadian,  that  because  of  the  lack  of 
contractual  relations  with  Great  Britain,  we  were  not  bound 
to  see  to  the  defense  of  the  Empire. 

Step  by  step,  we  also  realized  that  in  addition  to  raising  what 
was  to  us  a  vast  number  of  men,  we  must  feed  and  clothe  and 
arm  the  men,  and  then  we  realized  that  we  must  make  ammu- 
nition and  raise  products  of  all  kinds  in  excess  of  what  was 
necessary  for  our  own  men,  to  the  last  ounce  of  our  own  capacity. 
Our  notion  of  finance  was  so  timid  that  we  said  to  Great  Britain, 
"You  must  send  us  fifty  million  dollars  a  month  in  order  that 
we  may  be  able  to  put  these  men  in  the  field."  That  lasted  for  a 
few  months,  when  we  realized  that  England's  burdens  were  too 
great  for  that,  and  then  we  realized  that  we  must  raise  muni- 
tions on  a  great  scale,  and  we  must  pay  our  own  way  and  we 
must  give  credit  for  the  productions  that  we  raised. 

Now,  if  you  will  stop  to  think  of  Canada  at  that  time,  you 
will  see  it  as  a  country  largely  agricultural,  fond  of  after-dinner 
speeches  and  meetings  of  Boards  of  Trade,  calling  itself  a  manu- 
facturing country,  but  a  country,  after  all,  which  was  based 
on  the  basic  things  like  copper  and  iron-mining,  flour  mills,  and 
which  made  agricultural  machinery  and  electric  machinery,  if  not 
too  difficult,  and  all  of  the  things  that  represented  a  country  at 
about  the  stage  that  you  were  in  at  the  time  of  the  Civil  War; 
hoping  at  some  time  to  reach  your  condition,  but  not  at  that 
stage  at  that  time. 

We  needed  a  great  deal  more  carefulnes  and  exactitude  in 
manufacturing  than  we  had  ever  known.  The  first  problem  that 
came  to  us  was  to  secure  the  machinery.  Fortunately,  we  had 
alongside  of  us  a  country  where  the  making  of  lathes  and  the 
making  of  fine  machinery  was  an  art,  and  it  became  easy  for  us 
to  fill  our  factories  with  the  necessary  kinds  of  machinery.  Then, 
when  they  were  built,  we  did  not  possess  in  Canada  trained  work- 
men of  the  kind  that  were  necessary.  We  had  to  go  to  work 
and  train  people  to  make  them  fit  for  this  higher  class  of  work 
demanded  in  the  articles  which  we  had  to  make.  They  amounted 
in  the  first  year  to  over  five  hundred  thousand  kinds  of  articles. 
How  many  of  them  we  actually  made  ourselves,  I  can't  tell  you. 
I  tried  to  describe  the  present  condition  in  a  few  words,  at  an 
annual  meeting  of  my  bank  a  few  days  ago,  and  I  will  read  a 
paragraph  from  it: 

"Canada  is  producing  gun  ammunition,  including  propellants, 
high  explosives,  fuses  and  cartridge  cases  in  550  factories  situ- 
ated from  St.  John  in  the  east  to  Victoria  in  the  west.    In  addi- 


CANADA  IN  THE  WAR  289 

tion  to  contracts  given  to  private  corporations,  the  Imperial  Mu- 
nitions Board  has  developed  government  factories  for  the  loading 
of  fuses,  for  the  production  of  powder  and  high  explosives,  for 
the  manufacture  of  sulphuric  and  nitric  acids  and  acetone,  and  of 
steel  and  forgings,  and  for  the  construction  of  aeroplanes.  The 
Board  has  also  contracted  for  the  building  of  a  large  number  of 
the  latest  type  of  high-power  aeroplane  engines  (I  am  now 
referring  to  the  making  of  engines  for  fighting  planes  at 
the  front.  It  was  thought  that  nowhere  could  works  be  found 
fine  enough  to  make  them ;  doubtless  they  could  have  been  made 
in  this  country.) 

I  will  stop  for  one  minute  to  illustrate  what  I  mean  by 
the  difficulties  of  this  high  class  of  manufacturing.  I  think  of 
a  factory,  managed  by  a  graduate  of  the  University  of  Toronto, 
where,  before  the  war,  bicycles  and  automobiles  were  made,  al- 
though not  on  a  very  large  scale.  In  that  factory  they  are  making 
at  the  present  time,  or  were  a  month  of  two  ago,  12,000  fuses 
of  the  time  fuse  and  percussion  fuse  type,  and  28,000  of  the 
high  explosives  daily.  That  is  40,000  fuses  daily  or  a  million 
fuses  a  month,  and  a  million  fuses  are  enough  to  fire  the  shells 
for  a  barrage  of  as  intense  a  kind  as  ever  happens  in  this  present 
war  for  the  entire  length  of  the  western  line,  French,  American, 
Canadian,  British. 

Now,  when  I  tell  you  that  for  a  short  time  the  British  Army 
depended  for  sixty  per  cent,  of  its  fuses  upon  that  one  factory 
in  Toronto,  which  six  months  before  had  been  making  bicycles 
and  automobiles,  you  will  understand  what  I  mean  by  the  kind 
of  pressure  on  human  ingenuity  which  this  war  has  called  for. 
That  factory  is  manned  by  two  thousand  men  and  four  thousand 
women  to-day.  When  I  speak  of  fuses,  let  me  say  that  there 
are  twenty-four  parts  in  the  time  fuse  and  seventeen  parts  in 
the  percussion  fuse.  Forty  thousand  a  day  means  that  in  that 
factory  those  four  thousand  women  and  two  thousand  men  are 
turning  out  750,000  pieces  of  machinery  which  must  be  true  to 
one-tenth  of  a  second  in  a  flight  of  twenty-two  seconds.  I  think 
a  Waltham  watch  does  not  bear  any  relation  whatever  to 
that ! 

The  Imperial  Munitions  Board  have  already  given  orders  in 
Canada  for  over  one  billion  dollars'  worth  of  material  of  dif- 
ferent kinds  and  we  have  made  in  Canada,  up  to  date,  over 
fifty  million  shells.  I  said  that  we  had  to  begin  early  in  the 
day  to  give  long  time  credit  to  Great  Britain.  Great  Britain,  as 
you  know,  has  given  you,  since  the  war  began,  over  the  one  billion 
dollars'  worth  of  gold,  and  the  gold  was  shipped  to  this  country 
until  the  moment  came  when  that  had  to  stop,  and  the  time 


290       ONE  HUNDRED  PER  CENT  AMERICAN 

came  when  we  realized  that  the  Allies  must  have  credit  until  the 
war  is  over  for  everything  they  buy. 

Listen  for  a  few  minutes  to  the  financial  condition  of  Canada. 
I  want  you  to  realize  that  the  problem  can  only  be  considered 
together ;  we  must  work  together  here  if  we  fight  together  "over 
there"  for  the  greatest  cause  that  was  ever  known.  Before  the 
war  Canada  was  one  of  the  poorest  countries.  We  have  six  or 
seven  millions  in  population,  an  area  as  large  as  the  United 
States,  and  an  enormous  incoming  immigration.  Really,  we  are 
in  our  days  of  railroad  building,  of  public  building  of  every  kind. 

Our  foreign  trade  at  March  31st,  1913,  the  end  of  our  fiscal 
year,  was  one  billion,  sixty-three  million  dollars,  excluding  gold 
— an  enormous  foreign  trade  for  the  population,  but  our  imports 
exceeded  our  exports  by  three  hundred  and  ten  millions,  and 
we  also  owed  about  one  hundred  and  twenty-five  million  dol- 
lars for  the  interest  on  foreign  indebtedness  already  incurred ; 
so  that  we  had  to  find  four  hundred  and  thirty-five  million  dol- 
lars on  March  31st,  1913,  to  pay  our  way.  We  owed  most  of 
that  difference  to  you,  but  we  sold  our  securities  to  Great  Britain, 
and  she  really  bought  our  securities  and  gave  us  the  money  to 
give  you  the  cash  to  pay  for  the  quantity  of  goods  we  had  bought 
from  you. 

Now,  on  the  31st  day  of  March,  1917,  the  foreign  trade  was 
two  billion,  forty-three  million  dollars — this  in  four  years — 
and  the  imports  now  exceed  exports  by  three  hundred  and  fif- 
teen million  dollars,  a  change  in  four  years  of  six  hundred  and 
twenty-five  million  dollars  in  our  trade — about  the  same  as  a 
change  in  your  trade  of  seven  or  eight  billion  dollars.  You  realize 
that  since  last  March,  about  a  year  ago,  the  price  of  everything 
has  grown  larger,  the  scale  of  everything  in  quantity  has  grown 
larger,  and  the  figures  for  191 8  will  be  amazingly  larger  than  they 
were  for  1917. 

We  had  to  put  up  on  the  market,  almost  entirely  for  war 
purposes,  but  not  entirely  on  Canada's  account,  seven  hundred 
and  seventy-two  million  dollars'  worth  of  securities.  These  se- 
curities before  the  war  were  practically  all  sold  in  Great  Britain ; 
but  in  the  year  191 7  Canada  took  five  hundred  and  eighty  millions 
of  her  own  securities,  you  took  one  hundred  and  eighty-seven 
millions,  and  an  inconsiderable  amount  of  five  millions  was  put 
down  to  Great  Britain. 

Our  war  has  cost  down  to  date  seven  hundred  and  sixty 
million  dollars.  Beside  that,  the  Government  has  found  for  Great 
Britain  between  two  and  three  hundred  million  dollars  and  the 
banks  have  found  several  hundred  millions  on  their  own  ac- 
count.   Now,  the  problem  for  the  next  year  is,  of  course,  bigger 


CANADA  IN  THE  WAR  291 

than  ever.  What  we  have  to  remember  is  that,  in  every  way,  in 
the  number  of  men,  in  the  clothing  of  them,  in  the  quantity  of 
food,  in  every  kind  of  thing,  it  actually  works  like  that.  The 
scope  of  it  gets  bigger  and  bigger,  until  the  day  comes  when  we 
realize  there  is  peace  ahead.  That  is  why  all  this  talk  about  peace 
is  so  wicked  and  wasteful.  If  we  were  a  self-contained  country 
like  the  United  States,  we  could  plainly  make  all  we  needed  for 
ourselves  and  send  goods  to  the  Allies  as  well  and  we  could  give 
them  credit  for  the  whole  of  it  except  for  the  small  amount  which 
we  need  for 'foreign  indebtedness  incurred;  but  we  have  to  buy 
from  you  steel,  steel  forgings,  bar  steel,  all  kinds  of  things,  which, 
in  the  end,  find  their  place  either  in  factories  or  in  steamships 
or  in  the  shells,  or  in  some  form  of  thing  the  need  for  which  has 
been  created  by  the  war  and  for  which  we  are  getting  long  time 
credit  from  Great  Britain. 

I  want  to  make  you  representative  business  men  understand 
that  if  you  sell  something  to  Great  Britain  that  must  be  used  in 
Canada,  you  must  give  credit  to  Canada  on  that  account.  All  the 
wheat,  all  the  wool,  all  the  guns,  shells,  aeroplanes,  ships,  every- 
thing that  all  of  us  can  build  is  needed,  and  they  must  be  built 
where  they  can  be  built,  and  they  must  be  paid  for  where  they 
can  be  paid  for. 

We  are  not  war-weary  in  Canada.  I  don't  think  we  shall 
ever  be  war-weary.  We  have  had  some  of  the  most  remarkable 
campaigns  in  raising  money  for  patriotic  funds  and  for  Red 
Cross  purposes  that  have  ever  been  carried  on  in  any  part  of 
the  world.  The  London  "Times"  did  us  the  honor  to  send  Hamil- 
ton Fyfe  to  Canada  to  find  out  how  we  did  it.  But  in  those  cam- 
paigns in  which  we  raised  such  enormous  amounts  of  money, 
really  the  slogan  was  always  the  same,  "We  have  got  to  stand 
by  the  boys  at  the  front." 

When  our  Finance  Minister  a  little  while  ago  asked  for  a 
loan  of  one  hundred  and  fifty  million  dollars,  he  said  he  would 
take  subscriptions  up  to  three  hundred  millions.  He  got  subscrip- 
tions of  four  hundred  and  seventeen  millions!  And  these  were 
from  eight  hundred  and  seven  thousand  people. 

But  I  must  return  to  the  soldiers.  One  could  speak  forever 
about  the  soldiers.  By  the  15th  of  February,  191 5,  the  men  were 
away  from  Salisbury  and  were  at  the  front.  Some  of  you  will 
remember  that  they  were  engaged  fighting  by  February  28th  at 
St.  Eloi.  I  am  not  going  to  tell  you  what  you  all  know  about  the 
single  battle  of  Ypres,  that  wonderful  spot  where  a  lot  of  Cana- 
dian boys  who  didn't  know  enough  of  military  tactics  to  retreat 
barred  the  way  of  Germany  to  Calais  and  stopped  their  whole 
army.     Nor  shall  I  speak  about  Vimy  Ridge  or  Passchendaele, 


292   ONE  HUNDRED  PER  CENT  AMERICAN 

but  what  I  want  to  impress  upon  you  is  that  we  used  to  be,  as 
the  cousins  of  America  and  cousins  of  Great  Britain,  rather  of- 
fended when  people  said  there  was  no  Canadian  type.  The 
Americans  said  we  were  half  English,  and  the  English  said  we 
were  half  American !  And  it  has  been  the  beautiful  privilege  of 
our  boys  to  demonstrate  that  there  is  a  Canadian  type,  absolutely 
recognizable.  It  is  curiously  like  your  western  type  in  some  re- 
spects. I  was  telling  your  Chairman  about  their  manners,  re- 
minding one  of  what  some  one  said  about  your  Rhodes  Scholar- 
ship boys  at  Oxford.  He  said  they  had  the  manners  of  the  very 
early  gods.  They  tell  about  the  distress  of  the  British  officials 
because  the  Canadian  boys  went  into  fashionable  restaurants  and 
did  not  salute  the  officers.  One  of  them  said  he  would  try  it, 
and  see  whether  he  would  salute  him.  The  boy  did  not,  so  he 
steppod  up  and  said  to  him,  "My  good  man,  don't  you  know 
enough  to  salute  an  officer  ?"  And  he  said,  "Oh,  yes"  ;  and  he  got 
up  slowly  and  saluted  and  then  sat  down.  The  officer  said,  "What 
company  do  you  belong  to,  my  good  man?"  "The  Glengarry 
Gas  Company." 

The  most  amazing  thing  about  this  war,  the  most  comfort- 
ing thing  about  modern  democracy,  the  most  comforting  thing 
to  those  who  dread  long  years  of  peace,  is  the  way  in  which 
we  have  made  soldiers  out  of  civilians  and  the  rapidity  with 
which  it  has  been  done.  One  of  the  leading  generals — you  will 
have  heard  of  him  from  time  to  time — is  General  Currie.  He 
was  a  real  estate  agent  before  the  war.  There  is  in  Italy,  the 
second  in  command  in  the  British  Army  in  Italy — and  he  is 
a  fellow-governor  with  Sir  Robert  Falkner  and  myself  on  the 
Board  of  Governors  of  the  University  of  Toronto — Lieutenant- 
Colonel  Mitchell,  who  never  occupied  any  but  Provincial  positions 
before  the  war. 

And  then  you  think  of  the  Imperial  Army  anxious  to  build  a 
railroad  behind  the  front  and  asking  their  engineers  how  long 
it  would  take  to  build  it.  They  examined  it  and  said  it  would 
take  about  four  weeks;  and  so  in  despair  they  sent  for  a  man, 
General  Jack  Stewart,  and  they  asked  him  what  he  could  do,  and 
he  said,  "If  you  will  give  me  three  hundred  of  the  Canadian 
foresters  and  Canadian  railroad  men,  I  could  build  it  in  ten  days." 
They  gave  him  the  men  and  he.  built  it  in  six  days. 

But  one  could  tell  stories  all  day,  stories  about  subalterns, 
boys  finding  themselves  with  five  or  six  men,  disassociated  from 
their  own  commanding  officer,  and  seeing  in  front  of  them  a  Ger- 
man machine  gun  that  was  riddling  the  life  out  of  their  fellows, 
taking  it  on  their  own  account.  I  could  tell  incident  after  inci- 
dent of  that  kind. 


CANADA  IN  THE  WAR  293 

When  the  Ridge  of  Passchendaele  was  not  taken  and  it  was 
decided  by  the  Canadians  that  it  had  to  be  taken,  General  Currie 
went  before  his  men,  knowing  he  was  sending  many  of  them  to 
their  death,  and  getting  up  on  a  mess  table,  he  said,  "Boys,  we've 
got  to  take  the  ridge.  We  have  been  fighting  here  all  summer  for 
this.  Everything  we  have  done  goes  for  nothing  if  we  can't  take 
the  ridge.  Boys,  we  have  got  to  take  the  ridge."  And  the  boys 
cheered  him  to  the  echo,  and  of  course  you  know  they  took  the 
ridge. 

You  hear  every  now  and  then  about  the  new  German  method 
of  meeting  the  difficutly,  when  they  could  not  build  trenches,  of 
building  what  are  called  "pill  boxes."  I  haven't  hunted  for  inci- 
dents. I  am  only  telling  you  things  that  came  under  my  notice 
since  your  Chairman  asked  me  to  speak  to  you.  I  have  a  letter 
here  written  from  France  in  October,  191 7,  to  a  friend  of 
mine  by  his  son.  This  letter  describes  very  graphically  the  tak- 
ing of  pill  boxes  which  are  entered  from  the  back,  practically 
shell-proof,  and  from  which  the  Germans  could  do  great 
damage. 

"Early  on  the  morning  of  the  6th  the  barrage  commenced 
and  what  a  sight  it  was  to  us  who  stood  back  there  and  watched 
it !  You  know  what  an  unearthly  thing  a  cold  November  dawn  is 
like.  Clouds  of  mist,  rain  perhaps,  and  heavy  clouds  with  the 
red  of  the  dawn  just  coming  up.  Two  hours  changed  all  this 
into  a  regular  blaze  of  fire  and  smoke  accompanied  by  the  terrible 
and  constant  throb  of  hundreds  of  guns  firing.  There  was  still 
enough  of  the  darkness  to  show  off  the  flashes  from  guns  and 
shells  which  made  it  all  the  more  hard  to  understand  how  any 
human  being  could  stand  up  against  such  a  terrific  force.  A 
year  ago  we  used  to  think  our  barrage  perfect,  but  we  are  only 
beginning  to  realize  now  to  what  length  artillery  fire  can  be 
brought.  New  devices,  more  guns  and  experience  have  all  gone 
to  bring  our  gunfire  to  a  stage  where  it  is  quite  impossible  for 
any  one  to  get  through  it,  much  less  stand  against  it.  Finding 
that  the  deep  dugout  was  of  very  little  use  against  us,  owing  to 
the  time  that  it  took  to  come  up  from  them,  the  Boche  has  gone 
into  what  we  call  'pill  boxes,'  that  is,  concrete  boxes  on  top  of 
the  ground  large  enough  to  hold  from  ten  to  forty  men.  These 
boxes  are  very  strongly  made  with  f erro-concrete  at  least  five  feet, 
and  sometimes  eight  feet  thick,  furnishing  naturally  a  most  per- 
fect protection  from  shell-fire.  The  Boche  has  strewn  hundreds 
of  these  little  forts  over  his  back  area  in  groups  of  four  or  five, 
and  naturally  thought  he  had  overcome  the  effect  of  our  curtain 
of  fire  as  his  M.  G.  men  were  able  to  fire  through  their  loopholes 


294   ONE  HUNDRED  PER  CENT  AMERICAN 

with  little  chance  of  being  hit.  He  reckoned,  though,  without 
taking  into  consideration  the  men  that  he  was  up  against. 

"Our  fellows  had  very  little  trouble  with  pill  boxes  during 
the  show  and  the  reports  of  the  manner  in  which  they  stalked 
these  places  and  captured  them  would  fill  books.  Every  situation 
required  a  different  plan  and  the  greatest  credit  is  due  to  our 
Section  Commanders,  chiefly  corporals,  for  the  way  they  got 
through  without  the  slightest  check.  One  instance  that  I  know 
of  reads  like  a  V.  C.  story,  and  perhaps  it  may  turn  out  to  be  one. 
I  hope  so. 

"A  large  P.  B.  was  found  opposite  one  of  our  Lewis  Gun 
sections  with  at  least  two  M.  G.'s  in  it.  Our  corporal  soon  laid 
his  plan,  and  a  very  daring  one  it  was  too.  He  distributed  his 
seven  or  eight  men  about  in  shell  holes  in  front  of  the  obstacle 
and  had  them  open  fire  on  the  loopholes  with  their  rifles  and 
rifle  grenades  and  then  taking  his  Lewis  gun  by  himself,  did 
the  Indian  and  crawled  around  to  the  back  of  the  P.  B.,  know- 
ing that  the  Boches  would  be  fully  engaged  with  his  men  out  in 
front.  As  soon  as  he  got  close  enough  to  the  narrow  entrance 
in  the  rear,  he  dashed  forward  and  dropped  into  a  position  right 
at  the  entrance  from  where  he  was  able  to  get  every  Hun  inside 
with  his  gun.  Twenty-five  men  and  two  officers  were  counted 
when  he  got  through.  Quite  a  good  haul  for  one  man,  isn't  it? 
And  all  dead  too !  An  instance  like  this  will  go  to  show  you 
just  what  sort  of  stuff  the  British  soldier  is  made  of.  I  don't 
say  Canadian,  you'll  notice,  because  what  we  do  is  no  better  than 
any  one  else.  One  gets  over  those  horrible  insular  opinions  after 
a  very  short  time. 

(Pretty  nearly  all  of  these  boys  can  write  good  letters;  they  have 
so  much  to  write  about,  I  suppose.) 

"All  our  objectives  were  gained  right  on  time  and  the  show 
was  in  every  way  a  clean  one.  That  is,  there  were  no  setbacks 
anywhere,  and  everything  that  was  asked  was  done.  Naturally 
our  General  is  very  proud  of  the  work  of  the  men,  particularly 
so  as  we  had  the  honor  of  taking  the  thing  in  the  whole  show. 
We  have  been  congratulated  personally  by  every  one  from  the 
top  down,  and  you  can  little  wonder  that  I'm  proud  of  the  badges 
that  I  wear." 

All  the  letters  we  receive  and  hear  about  are  full  of  the  un- 
conquerable spirit  of  the  Canadian  and  British  soldiers.  We 
love  in  art,  in  picture  and  in  poetry  to  read  and  to  see  the  happy 
warrior  depicted,  and  we  think  of  him  always  as  a  chaste  Chris- 


CANADA  IN  THE  WAR  295 

tian  knight  of  mediaeval  times.  Well,  he  is  not  a  knight  and 
not  always  a  Christian,  but  always  a  Cockney  Tommy  in  high 
spirits. 

"For  while  the  world  said  'Let  none  smile' ; 

There  is  no  mirth  hereafter: 
The  golden  lads  of  Shakespeare's  land 
Outfaced  their  doom  with  laughter." 

There  are  no  greater  heroes  than  the  prisoners  of  war.  Won- 
derful things  will  be  told  of  them  when  the  boys  come  back 
from  the  prisons.  I  happen  to  hear  from  a  mother  and  father 
of  one  of  the  boys  whom  I  know  quite  well  who  had  his  chance 
to  be  exchanged,  meaning  to  go  to  a  neutral  country,  to  Holland 
or  Switzerland.  He  refused  to  go  because  he  said  he  was  per- 
fectly well,  in  excellent  spirits,  but  he  had  a  comrade  who  was  not 
well  and  he  begged  them  to  take  the  comrade  and  they  did. 
Another  boy,  of  Highland  stock,  but  four  generations  away 
from  the  Highlands :  he  had  tried  to  escape  and  been  punished 
for  that,  and  he  was  offered  his  escape  to  Switzerland  if  he 
would  promise  not  to  try  to  escape  from  there,  but  he  would 
not  take  his  liberty  on  those  conditions.  Another  man  who  said, 
with  a  lot  of  other  Canadians  who  were  put  in  the  mines  to  work, 
"No  food,  no  work"  and  they  took  their  punishment  day  after 
day.  At  last  he  said  he  got  away.  He  was  sixty  miles  from 
Holland  and  it  took  ten  nights  to  do  it,  but  he  got  away. 

And  then  I  think  of  the  experiences  of  one  or  two  air  men. 
The  General  Manager  of  my  bank  has  two  sons  who  are  both 
very  famous  air  men.  One  is  one  of  the  leading  instructors  in 
Texas  at  the  moment.  One  of  them  went  home  after  two  and 
a  half  years  of  fighting,  but  could  not  be  induced  to  stay.  He 
had  a  Handley-Page  ship  which  went  135  miles  an  hour.  He 
had  successfully  bombed  Constantinople  and  was  returning, 
when  his  paddle-blades  were  struck.  He  and  his  companions 
fell  into  the  ocean,  swam  ashore,  divested  themselves  of  their 
clothes,  and  were  sitting  on  the  rocks  when  they  were  taken 
prisoners  by  the  Turks.  The  Turkish  officer  took  their  orders 
for  clothing  for  himself  and  men,  went  over  to  town,  got  the 
clothing  and  came  back  to  his  prisoners.  I  wish  the  Germans 
would  treat  their  prisoners  as  well  as  the  Turks. 

A  boy  who,  four  years  ago,  was  a  seventeen-year  old  boy  at 
college,  that  boy  accounted  for  one  German  warship  and  two 
destroyers.  He  was  making  a  fly  at  a  German  warship  with  a 
curve  of  about  a  quarter  of  a  mile,  of  course  taking  a  chance, 
and  his  bomb  hit  the  ship  between  the  two  smokestacks.  That 
boy  has  learned  tumbling  over  like  a  tumbler  pigeon  and  dropping 


296       ONE  HUNDRED  PER  CENT  AMERICAN 

again,  deceiving  those  who  operate  the  air-craft  gun,  and  then, 
with  his  own  machine  gun,  putting  the  air-craft  gun  out  of  busi- 
ness, and  he  does  it  over  and  over  again. 

The  heroes  in  the  war  are,  of  course,  the  women,  the  women 
at  home.  If  anybody  could  have  told  us  five  years  ago  that  our 
own  daughters  would  have  gone  out  as  nurses  and  searchers 
on  the  field  of  battle,  of  course  we  would  not  have  believed  it 
was  within  the  range  of  human  possibility.  If  anybody  had  said 
that  the  V.  A.  D.'s  would  have  amounted  in  the  British  and 
Canadian  side  of  the  war  alone  to  between  twenty  and  thirty 
thousand,  women  who  are  working  as  hard  as  they  are  working 
every  day  in  the  service  of  the  army,  some  working  over  the 
wounded  men,  others  driving  cars,  that  would  have  seemed  im- 
possible. Your  President's  friend,  Colonel  House,  was  over 
in  England,  as  you  know,  and  he  was  looked  after  by  a  personal 
friend  of  mine  while  he  was  there.  When  he  left  the  house  in 
which  he  was  entertained  in  London  a  young  lady  in  charge  of 
the  car  in  which  he  had  come  took  him  off.  When  they  arrived 
at  the  Channel  the  lady  stepped  out,  handed  him  out  of  the  car, 
and  they  thought  they  had  seen  the  last  of  her.  But  when  they 
got  off  the  boat,  there  she  was  with  the  car,  and  she  took  them 
to  Paris,  driving  them  all  over  that  city,  a  cultivated  young  lady. 
You  would  wonder  how  they  get  along,  these  attractive  young 
women  chauvettes.  Well,  they  have  their  orders  and  they  are  very 
simple:  "When  anybody  tries  to  flirt  with  you,  walk;  if  they 
keep  on  trying  to  flirt,  keep  on  walking.  Keep  on  walking,  or 
you  will  lose  your  job." 

We  have  invented  countless  things  in  connection  with  our 
men.  Our  own  patriotic  fund  was  a  fund  established  for  supple- 
menting the  pay  that  the  Government  gives  to  soldiers  and  to 
soldiers'  wives  and  to  their  children.  It  has  a  wonderful  and 
splendid  history.  We  have  in  England  an  institution  presided 
over  by  Lady  Drummond  for  doing  the  humane  thing  for  the 
wounded  soldier,  finding  his  name,  his  friends,  writing  letters 
for  him,  sending  flowers  for  him,  doing  something  to  make  him 
understand  while  on  his  sick-bed  that  the  women  care  for  him 
while  he  is  fighting  for  them.  Lady  Drummond  has  done  tire- 
less work  in  that  respect. 

At  home,  all  of  the  women  are  working,  as  you  know,  and 
every  woman  is  knitting  there  as  they  are  knitting  here.  Some 
Indian  women  at  Prince  Rupert,  the  most  northerly  part  of 
Columbia,  sent  four  hundred  pairs  of  knitted  socks,  and  some 
Eskimo  women  at  a  mission  station  sent  $30.00  in  money  for  the 
cause. 

Just  as  a  measure  of  what  we  have  done  in  that  respect,  the 


CANADA  IN  THE  WAR  297 

city  of  Toronto  has  contributed  for  war  purposes  eight  million 
dollars  and  one  or  two  of  the  other  Provinces  forty  million 
dollars. 

It  is  hardly  proper  for  me  to  say  a  word  about  the  British 
Navy,  but  I  can't  forbear  saying  that  when  we  are  distressed, 
as  we  are,  with  such  things  as  the  loss  of  the  Tuscania,  and  the 
weekly  submarine  rate,  let  us  try  to  remember  that  the  British 
Navy  has  done  everything  possible,  and  has  carried  safely  from 
port  to  port  thirteen  million  soldiers,  with  only  the  loss  of  nine 
British  transports  and  nine  thousand  men.  In  addition  to  that, 
it  has  carried  two  million  horses,  twenty-six  million  tons  of 
munitions  and  fifty-three  million  tons  of  coal  and  oil. 

That  is  all  I  have  to  say  about  Canada,  but  I  want  to  say  a 
few  words  about  the  greatest  event  that  has  happened  recently 
in  the  history  of  the  world,  the  coming  of  the  United  States 
into  the  war.  You  can't  imagine  what  that  means  to  Canadians 
who  have  lived  in  this  country.  I  will  tell  you  one  little  thing 
that  will  show  you  what  the  United  States  in  coming  into  the 
war  meant  to  us.  There  is,  in  connection  with  the  University 
of  Toronto,  a  wonderful  series  of  buildings  for  all  the  activities 
of  the  men  students  except  study,  and  in  the  great  dining-hall 
they  are  putting  up  the  arms  of  every  university  in  every  country 
in  the  world  that  is  fighting  for  the  cause  of  liberty  at  the  present 
time,  and  until  you  came  into  it,  there  was  a  prospect  of  the 
great  dining-hall  of  the  University  of  Toronto,  with  the  arms 
of  the  fifty-five  universities  of  the  British  Empire  and  about 
as  many  in  other  parts  of  the  world,  including  Japan,  having 
nothing  there  from  Harvard,  Yale,  Princeton  or  the  other  uni- 
versities here.  Well,  now  we  have  asked  Mr.  Pritcherd  how 
many  can  be  put  up  there  to  represent  your  universities  in  arms. 

You  can  hardly  think  what  it  would  have  meant  to  me  to  have 
thought  of  Canadian  boys  for  centuries  to  come  going  up  to  the 
University  of  Toronto  and  asking  why  Harvard  or  Yale  was  not 
there. 

But  we  are  in  this  war  together,  and  fighting  together  means 
so  many  things  more  than  the  mere  entering  in  the  war,  that  I 
can't  think  of  entering  upon  a  discussion  of  them  this  afternoon. 
But  there  is  one  question  which  comes  to  me  and  it  is  this :  What 
are  we  English-speaking  people  to  do  hereafter  in  the  cause  of 
peace?  I  was  one  of  the  delegates  of  our  Canadian  Committee 
to  the  Peace  Conference  at  Mackinac  Island  in  July,  1914,  where 
I  had  the  pleasure  of  meeting  your  Mr.  T.  Kennard  Thompson, 
one  of  the  delegates  from  the  Committee  on  this  side  of  the 
border.  I  was  one  of  those  who,  from  early  in  the  day,  begged 
the  English  and  American  Committees  not  to  end  their  labors, 


298       ONE  HUNDRED  PER  CENT  AMERICAN 

but  to  suspend  them,  to  hang  them  on  the  wall,  so  that  when 
this  war  is  over  and  when  we  have  to  consider  what  the  two 
countries  have  to  be  thankful  for  together,  we  could  have  the 
sort  of  celebration  we  should  have  as  English-speaking  people. 

Just  one  word  more.  The  tongue  of  the  world  is  already 
English.  When  people  of  different  tongues  in  India  wish  to 
communicate  with  each  other,  they  communicate  in  English. 
That  is  the  alternative  language  in  Japan,  China  and  Norway. 
It  is  the  trade  language  of  the  world.  It  is  our  business,  there- 
fore, to  see  that  the  English-speaking  peoples  come  together,  so 
that  if  we  do  not  succeed  in  winning  a  peace  of  that  kind  which 
will  guarantee  the  world  against  another  war  like  this  forever, 
we  shall  see  to  it  that  those  who  speak  English,  at  least,  shall 
band  themselves  together  so  that  they  shall  enforce  upon  the 
world  peace. 

We  are  none  of  us  any  too  sure  that  we  can  make 
a  good  job  of  democracy.  We  haven't  done  it  yet ;  but  the  abso- 
lute future  of  the  world  lies  with  the  English-speaking  peoples 
in  the  world,  those  who,  since  King  Alfred's  time,  have  fought 
step  by  step  for  their  rights  in  the  world;  and  depend  upon 
their  so  interlocking  themselves  and  tying  themselves  together 
that,  whether  the  rest  of  the  world  likes  it  or  not,  we  shall  say 
there  shall  be  peace  because  we  say  so. 


THREE:  BY  SIR  ROBERT  FALCONER 

President,  Toronto  University 

I  thank  you  very  heartily  for  the  great  honor  you  have  done 
me  in  associating  me  with  Sir  Edmund  Walker  and  asking  me 
to  come  to  speak  to  you  this  afternoon.  You  have  just  listened 
to  a  speech  which  has  been,  as  you  would  easily  recognize,  master- 
ful beyond  measure,  varied  in  its  human  interest  and  so  compre- 
hensive in  its  sweep  that,  really,  there  is  not  a  very  great  deal 
left  for  the  rest  of  us  who  are  here  this  afternoon  as  Canadians 
to  speak  about.  And  I  shan't  detain  you  at  any  great  length. 
May  I,  before  I  begin,  however,  in  order  to  emphasize  the  im- 
portance of  what  you  have  listened  to,  tell  you  that  of  all  the 
activities  of  Canada,  probably  none  have  been  more  really  suc- 
cessful in  the  financial  undertaking,  than  the  way  in  which 
Canada  at  the  beginning  of  the  war,  knowing  so  little  about  the 
future,  ventured  upon  her  unknown  path  with  confidence.  And 
she  has  pursued  that  path  with  confidence  and  with  success  to 
this  present.     Now,  of  all  those  who  have  contributed  to  this 


CANADA  IN  THE  WAR  299 

success  I  think  I  may  venture  to  say  that  the  gentleman  to  whom 
you  have  just  listened  has  been  second  to  none. 

For  the  few  moments  during  which  I  wish  to  speak  to  you  this 
afternoon,  I  intend  to  dwell  briefly  on  an  aspect  that  I  think  has 
only  been  touched  upon  by  Sir  Edmund  Walker.  Possibly  you 
will  allow  me  to  supplement  what  he  has  said  by  a  few  figures 
that  may  be  interesting  to  those  of  you  who  are  university  men, 
and  I  am  sure  there  are  a  large  number  of  university  men  present 
this  afternoon,  concerning  the  universities  of  Canada.  In  all, 
there  are  about  fourteen  thousand  men  and  women  in  the  uni- 
versities of  the  Dominion,  of  whom  about  ten  thousand  are  men ; 
that  is  to  say,  take  any  one  year  and  count  all  the  students  in 
these  universities,  and  there  are  about  ten  thousand  men  scat- 
tered all  over  the  faculties  and  in  all  the  universities  at  any  one 
time.  Well,  last  August  there  were  on  active  service  from  the 
universities,  graduates  and  undergraduates,  twelve  thousand  men. 
That  is  to  say,  two  thousand  more  men  than  are  in  attendance 
in  any  one  year  in  all  the  universities  in  Canada.  And  they  had 
taken  our  part,  because  this  sad  story  that  Sir  Edmund  has 
touched  upon  in  such  a  delicate  way  to-day  is  a  story  that  goes 
very  deep  and  is  very  continuous.  This  sad  story  has  to  record 
that  even  in  last  October  there  were  nearly  nine  hundred  of  our 
finest  and  best  who  had  fallen ;  and  so  often,  as  the  report  comes 
each  week,  almost  each  day,  with  painful  iteration,  one  says,  "Is 
it  so  that  the  very  best  have  to  go  ?"  We  don't  say  that  when  we 
reason  about  it ;  we  believe  that  as  good  are  left ;  but  it  is  when 
we  are  faced  with  the  individual  who  has  left  us  never  to  return 
that  we  ask  ourselves  whether,  after  all,  we  are  not  suffering 
almost  more  than  we  can  stand  ?  It  only  means  that  the  universal 
qualities  of  those  who  have  gone  are  so  rich  that  we  are  willing 
to  pay  an  unstinted  tribute  to  each  one.  But  I  shan't  detain  you 
by  referring  to  the  universities  at  any  greater  length. 

I  want,  however,  to  linger,  as  I  said,  upon  one  fact  that  is, 
to  my  mind,  of  supreme  importance,  and  that  is  the  uprising 
of  the  overseas  dominions  of  India,  of  the  dependencies  and  of 
the  crown  colonies,  almost  as  a  man,  in  August,  1914.  That  was 
an  event  of  world-wide  importance,  and  I  believe  that  that  event 
in  itself  did  as  much  to  hearten  Britain  as  any  one  thing  that 
has  occurred  until  you  came  into  the  war  yourselves.  Not  only 
did  it  hearten  Britain,  but  it  astonished,  I  believe,  you  in  the 
United  States  who  thought  you  knew  us.  I  rather  think  your 
knowledge  of  us  is  not  so  great  as  you  imagine  it  is.  I  know 
from  personal  knowledge  that  it  amazed  many  other  neutrals, 
like  the  Dutch  people  in  Holland.  That  men  in  South  Africa  who 
had  been  fighting  against  Great  Britain  a  few  years  before  should 


300   ONE  HUNDRED  PER  CENT  AMERICAN 

at  once  rally  to  the  side  of  Britain  was  an  act  of  surpassing  sig- 
nificance; and  it  meant  that  the  British  Empire  is  an  institution 
that  it  is  well  worth  the  while  of  the  whole  world  to  study,  and 
certainly  Germany  has  done  a  great  deal  of  studying  about  it 
ever  since ! 

It  isn't  merely  the  contribution  of  men  and  money  that  we 
brought;  that  is  not  the  important  thing,  important  as  it  is;  but 
the  fact  itself  which  demonstrates  that  the  principles  on  which 
the  British  Empire  has  been  builded  are  principles  that  have 
significance  for  the-  structure  of  the  society  of  the  world ;  that 
there  are  moral  principles  that  hold  the  world  together ;  and  that 
these  principles  are  not  based  merely  on  written  constitutions; 
that  an  empire  is  not  "ramshackle"  simply  because  it  is  not  domi- 
nated by  some  centralized  force  that  can  compel  individuals  from 
every  section  of  the  world  to  rally  to  its  support;  but  that  there 
are  moral  forces,  unseen,  invisible  moral  forces,  that  draw  men 
together ;  and  that,  in  the  long  run,  these  are  the  most  compelling. 

That  is  the  great  fact  that  was  proved  by  the  risings  of  1914. 
I  ask  you  to  consider  why  that  was  possible.  Why  was  that  possi- 
ble? Sir  Edmund  Walker  briefly  intimated  that  there  had  been 
a  change  in  imperial  policy  since  1776 — a  change,  a  vast  change. 
In  those  days  the  thought  of  empire  was  a  thought  more  or  less 
of  self-interest,  trade,  commerce.  Those  days  went  by.  Your 
fathers  on  this  side  fought  not  for  trade,  not  for  commerce. 
They  underwent  great  sufferings ;  they  brought  upon  themselves 
heavy  expenses ;  they  endured  trials  over  a  great  series  of  years ; 
and  were  led  by  one  of  the  greatest  statesmen  of  the  world.  Why? 
For  an  idea;  for  something  intangible,  something  invisible,  that 
one  section  of  Britain  did  not  at  that  moment  recognize ;  a  section 
of  Britain  that  was  incompetent  and  that,  unfortunately,  was 
directed  by  incompetents  both  at  home  and  abroad  at  that  time, 
and  that  would  not  listen  to  the  wiser  men  of  Britain,  its  Burke 
and  Chatham  and  dozens  of  other  wise  men  of  Britain,  who  said, 
"You  are  not  treating  your  sons  as  Britons  should  be  treated." 
They  would  not  listen.  You  rose  as  Britons,  and  of  course  you 
got  your  rights  after  a  long  struggle. 

Now,  that  whole  policy  changed  and  a  new  era  entered  and 
new  men  came  into  control,  and  the  circle  of  government  widened 
year  after  year  in  Britain,  and  Britain  became  a  great  democracy 
and  was  led,  in  the  earlier  and  in  the  middle  part  of  the  century 
by  men  of  great  power. 

What  was  happening  to  the  north  of  you  ?  You  did  not  know. 
It  is  only  a  few  years  back,  really,  that  you  have  turned  your 
gaze  to  the  north,  and  many  changes  were  taking  place  in  our 
northern  country.     Our  fathers  and  grandfathers  were  doing 


CANADA  IN  THE  WAR  301 

things  that  they  did  not  realize  the  value  of  or  the  extent  of  or 
the  importance  of.  Who  were  these  people?  Some  of  them  had 
come  over  from  here.  Many  others  had  come  from  Britain, 
silently  come  across  from  Britain,  bringing  with  them  the  ideas 
that  were  vibrant  in  Britain  with  new  life,  ideas  of  self-govern- 
ment and  of  democracy  and  of  the  power  of  the  people. 

That  class  of  people  came  into  Canada  and  when  they  came 
they  said,  "We  must  in  Canada  have  the  same  privileges  that  our 
brothers  have  in  the  old  land.  We  haven't  changed  our  nature ; 
we  haven't  changed  our  character."  They  demanded  that  those 
privileges  be  given  them,  and  there  was  in  Canada  for  many 
years  a  very  stern  and  prolonged  struggle  for  responsible  gov- 
ernment, different  from  yours.  I  shall  refer  to  it  in  a  moment. 
Now,  our  fathers  were  earnest  men  who  knew  what  they  wanted ; 
they  knew  their  ideas  and  were  bound  to  have  them;  but  they 
said,  "We  will  not  leave  Britain;  we  will  cling  to  Britain,  and 
Britain  will,  before  long,  recognize  the  justice  of  our  demands. 
She  did  not  recognize  it  before." 

Fortunately  a  change  had  come  and  a  new  conception  of 
empire  was  growing,  and  men  of  great  power  were  in  control. 
Britain  sent  to  Canada  three  great  governors,  Lord  Durham, 
Lord  Sidell  and  Lord  Elgin,  and  those  men  were  sympathetic 
and  led  the  Canadians.  And  there  were  at  home  in  Britain  fine 
men  of  sympathy  in  control,  and  Canada  got  responsible  govern- 
ment. What  was  responsible  government?  Responsible  govern- 
ment was  the  government  that  allowed  our  fathers  to  direct  their 
own  affairs  at  home,  believing  that  our  government  at  home  for 
its  own  home  affairs  should  be  responsible  to  its  own  people,  that 
we  should  control  ourselves  absolutely,  and  utterly. 

If  you  had  understood  what  had  been  going  on  in  Canada, 
there  would  not  have  been  so  many  people  from  the  United  States 
saying  in  the  last  twenty-five  years  that  they  could  not  under- 
stand why  we  in  the  north  did  not  assert  our  liberty  and  escape 
from  the  trammels  of  governmental  direction  in  Britain.  I  have 
heard  that  again  and  again.  The  reason  was  that  we  did  not  need 
to.  We  had  free  government.  Our  fathers  struggled  for  it. 
Responsible  government  was  granted,  and  we  have  to-day  a  de- 
mocracy that  is  absolutely  in  control  of  its  own  home  affairs  and  a 
government  that  is  directly  responsible  to  the  people  and  respon- 
sive to  the  needs  of  the  people  continually. 

Now,  this  grew ;  and  it  was  on  the  struggles  that  our  fathers 
went  through  in  Canada  that  the  British  Empire  has  been  builded  ; 
because  what  we  got  in  Canada  has  been  given  to  every  other 
part;  and  the  reason  of  the  loyalty  of  every  part  is  that  there 
is  absolute  confidence  in  every  part  towards  the  mother  country. 


302   ONE  HUNDRED  PER  CENT  AMERICAN 

At  home  we  are  free,  absolutely  free ;  we  do  as  we  will,  without 
let  or  hindrance;  and  we  know  that  we  have  been  generously 
treated. 

Therefore,  when  there  is  a  chance  to  maintain  the  principles 
on  which  we  live,  and  when  there  is  some  danger  lest  the  liberty 
for  which  we  have  struggled  and  which  we  now  enjoy,  lest  that 
liberty  should  be  defeated  in  the  world,  our  people  rise,  not  to 
defend  England — I  don't  think  we  ever  thought,  in  the  begin- 
ning of  the  war,  that  England  was  going  to  be  beaten — we  went 
and  stood  by  her  side  in  France  because  we  Canadians  said,  ''We 
will  have  the  privilege  of  defending  with  you  the  kind  of  govern- 
ment and  life  that  we  enjoy  and  that  must  not  disappear  from  the 
world."    That  was  the  reason. 

Now,  do  you  see  that,  without  knowing  it,  we  have  come  into 
a  new  conception  of  empire?  It  is  no  longer  the  old  matter  of 
trade  and  commerce.  Why,  we  have  protection  in  Canada,  and 
England  had  free  trade!  It  is  not  a  matter  of  trade  and  com- 
merce, but  something  far  deeper, — a  new  imperial  conception. 
What?  That  the  English-speaking,  overseas  dominions,  to- 
gether with  the  mother-country,  are  to  stand  side  by  side  for  the 
protection  of  a  civilization.  What  kind  of  a  civilization?  The 
civilization  that  we  have  inherited  for  over  a  thousand  years,  of 
constantly  growing,  widening  liberty,  a  newer  understanding  of 
freedom,  and  of  the  sweep  and  scope  of  laws.  These  are  the 
things  that  we  believe  it  is  our  part  to  maintain. 

Are  we  going  to  force  them  on  the  world  like  a  new  "Kultur  ?" 
Not  at  all ;  but  we  say  they  must  not  disappear  from  the  world, 
and  we  believe  they  are  of  such  potency  within  themselves,  that, 
give  the  idea  a  chance,  let  it  not  be  smothered  out  by  force,  and 
the  idea  has  in  it  the  vitality  which  will  soon  kindle  new  torches 
here  and  there  in  the  darkness  of  the  world,  and  the  world  will 
become  illuminated  almost  automatically.  We  simply  say,  "Give 
it  a  chance;  do  not  let  it  be  killed  out."  That  is  the  new  idea 
of  our  civilization,  a  moral  force  that  will  sweep  the  world 
through  and  will  illuminate  the  world  by  its  own  inherent  power. 

Now  comes  the  new  day.  I  am  not  going  to  speak  about  the 
future  of  the  empire.  There  are  a  great  many  difficulties  ahead  of 
us,  among  them,  foreign  policy  and  defense,  how  far  we  can  have 
centralized  government.  Those  are  things  that  we  Canadians 
are  thinking  a  great  deal  about. 

Now  comes  the  year  1917  and  you  come  in.  What  does  that 
mean?  It  means  that  another  English-speaking  democracy  has 
recognized  what  we  recognized,  and  is  standing  side  by  side  with 
us  for  the  same  principles.  I  say  a  different  kind  of  democracy. 
We  are  a  democracy  with  responsible  government,  a  government 


CANADA  IN  THE  WAR  303 

that  is  very  susceptible  to  the  will  of  the  people.  Your  democracy 
was  the  most  remarkable  democracy  at  the  time  that  the  world 
had  ever  seen,  by  reason  of  the  fact  that  after  you  had  won  your 
liberties,  you  proceeded  to  make  a  written  constitution,  and  to 
interpret  that  constitution  in  a  very  conservative  way.  The  re- 
sult has  been  that  you  are  one  of  the  most  conservative  democ- 
racies, if  not  the  most  conservative  democracy  in  the  world. 
You  have  had  a  great  respect  for  law,  a  wonderful  respect  for 
law,  and  your  lawgivers  in  your  Congress  cannot  go  too  fast, 
lest  your  Supreme  Court  steps  in  and  says  "We  have  the  last  word 
on  some  of  these  things  ;  you  must  listen  to  us."  You  have  learned 
great  respect  for  law  in  this  country;  so  much  so  that  I  think 
sometimes  it  is  giving  you  a  little  trouble  in  some  places. 

But  it  is  another  kind  of  democracy;  a  democracy  based  on 
the  conception  that  law  and  order  are  supreme.  And  I 
think  you  have  the  same  idea  in  the  back  of  your  minds  that  we 
Britains  have  in  the  back  of  our  minds,  that  law  and  order  have 
something  in  them  that  is  more  than  human,  that  there  is  an 
order  that  is  supreme  and  divine,  and  that  behind  society  there 
is  a  law  that  cannot  be  tampered  with;  otherwise,  tampering 
brings  disaster.    That  is  in  the  minds  of  us  all. 

Here  then  we  have  two  great  democracies  standing  side  by 
side ;  you,  on  the  whole,  more  conservative ;  we,  with  our  re- 
sponsible government,  working  out  in  our  own  way  the  problems 
before  us.  Why  do  we  stand  side  by  side?  We  stand  side  by 
side  for  this  reason,  that  we  have  come  to  recognize  that  the  dif- 
ferences that  kept  us  apart  in  the  past  are  differences  that  shrink 
into  insignificance  when  once  the  underlying  civilization  that  is 
common  to  us  is  challenged;  the  underlying  civilization  based 
upon  liberty,  self-determination,  a  broadening  freedom,  a  recog- 
nition of  law  and  order  and  of  the  necessity  of  righteousness 
prevailing  among  the  peoples  of  the  world — doing  the  right  thing 
by  the  peoples  of  the  world. 

Those  are  the  underlying  principles.  We  have  all  come  far 
short  of  them  again  and  again  in  the  past;  but  they  are  the 
underlying  principles  of  our  constitutions  and  of  our  society, 
and  we  have  said  that  these  things  must  be  preserved.  And 
just  as  we  stood  by  Britain  and  France  to  preserve  them  three 
years  ago,  so  now  you  are  saying,  or  have  said  a  year  ago,  "In 
view  of  the  increasing  pressure  that  has  come,  in  view  of  the 
increasing  menace  that  is  facing  the  world,  we  too  must  stand 
by  you  for  this  one  purpose,  not  to  force  our  will  upon  the  world, 
not  at  all ;  not  to  constrain  others  to  do  as  we  will  have  them  do ; 
but  to  say  to  the  world,  These  principles,  this  civilization,  that 
has  made  us  what  we  are,  cannot  be  stifled ;  this  civilization  must 


304       ONE  HUNDRED  PER  CENT  AMERICAN 

remain  in  the  world,  and  it  must  have  a  chance  in  the  world,  and 
we  will  band  together  until  that  fact  is  put  beyond  dispute.' " 
That  is  a  very,  very  vital  fact  that  we  have  been  facing,  and  it 
has  had  a  wonderful  effect  upon  us.  Just  to  think  of  the  two 
speeches  that  were  delivered  about  a  month  ago,  by  your  great 
President  who,  I  think,  is  to-day  the  greatest  statesman  of  the 
world,  your  President  and  Mr.  Lloyd  George.  Just  think  of 
those  two  speeches.  One  after  the  other  saying  virtually  the  same 
thing  to  the  whole  wide  world.  When  a  common  utterance  like 
that  has  once  been  made,  the  world  can  never  be  the  same  as  it 
has  been  before.  When  people  speak  what  is  in  their  hearts, 
they  are  not  the  same  as  they  were  before  they  uttered  what  they 
were  thinking;  and  now,  out  before  the  world,  your  conscience 
and  your  soul  and  our  conscience  and  our  soul  have  been  given 
expression,  and  we  can  never  be  what  we  were  before.  And, 
as  the  result  of  recognizing  that  we  are  so  profoundly  similar, 
that  the  foundations  of  our  life  go  down  and  that  we  draw  our 
sustenance  from  the  same  underlying  substance  and  sub-soil, 
recognizing  that,  we  shall  develop,  I  believe,  into  richer  and 
richer  and  more  luxurious  life,  side  by  side,  two  branches  of  a 
great  modern,  English-speaking  democracy,  how  close,  who  can 
say,  in  the  future;  but  I  believe  remaining  distinct,  you  with 
your  type  of  democracy  through  your  history,  and  we  with  another 
type  of  democracy  through  our  history ;  but  standing  side  by  side 
as  English-speaking  people,  will  understand  one  another  as  never 
before. 

I  think  the  fact  that  we  are  your  neighbors,  so  near  that  we 
have  come  to  you  and  have  learned  so  much  from  you  in  the 
past,  knowing  more  of  you  than  you  know  of  us,  rejoicing  in 
your  success  and  in  your  growth,  that  we,  your  neighbors,  possibly 
may  help  you  to  understand  the  part  of  the  English-speaking 
democracy  with  which  we  are  more  closely  associated,  and  we  can 
perhaps  help  our  kinsfolk  who  are  so  close  to  us  to  understand 
a  little  better  what  you  are  thinking  and  what  you  are  aiming  at, 
because  we  have  had  the  privilege  of  living  side  by  side  with  you 
in  such  uninterrupted  intercourse  over  such  a  long  period  of 
years. 


FOUR :     BY  SIR  WILLIAM  MULOCK,  LL.D. 

First  Chief  Justice,  Exchequer  Division  of  the  High  Court 
of  Justice 

I  am  an  "extra"  on  this  programme  and  therefore  have  had 
no  opportunity  of  preparing  an  orderly  speech ;  but,  at  the  same 


CANADA  IN  THE  WAR  305 

time,  I  can  speak  from  the  fullness  of  my  heart  when  I  express 
my  grateful  appreciation  of  the  honor  of  being  present  here 
to-day  and  meeting  so  many  of  the  splendid  citizens  of  this 
country. 

I  listened  with  deep  interest  to  the  valued,  instructive  and 
patriotic  speech  of  my  fellow-townsman,  Sir  Edmund  Walker. 
I  don't  know  that  I  ever  listened  to  an  address  more  full  of  meat 
than  that  speech,  and  so  appropriate.  And  I  hope  you  will  par- 
don me,  a  Canadian,  in  paying  this  tribute  to  one  of  whom 
Canadians  are  so  proud.  I  can  imagine  great  good  resulting  in 
a  country  governed  by  public  opinion,  from  the  meetings  of  citi- 
zens in  the  form  of  clubs  and  interchanging  ideas.  There  we 
all  meet  on  the  same  plane,  be  it  this,  that  or  the  other  club,  in 
Canada  or  in  the  United  States.  Men  of  high  and  men  of  low 
degree,  we  are  all  standing  on  the  same  platform ;  like  the  pump- 
kin pie  that  we  partook  of  a  moment  ago,  no  upper  crust  to  it ! 
We  are  here  to  form  public  opinion.  And  why  is  it  necessary? 
Because,  as  Sir  Robert  Falconer  said  a  moment  ago,  the  two  coun- 
tries respond  readily  to  public  opinion.  Governments  come  and 
governments  go,  in  response  to  that  opinion.  That  being  so,  how 
important  it  is  in  the  welfare  of  a  country  that  there  should  be 
an  educative,  sound  public  opinion,  and  is  there  any  better  school 
for  the  development  of  that  condition  than  these  societies,  these 
organizations,  of  which  this  is  a  splendid  type? 

You  have  heard  a  great  deal  of  Canada.  If  I  had  said  what 
Sir  Edmund  Walker  said — now  I  am  going  to  turn  on  him  for  a 
moment — you  will  think  us  a  wonderful  people  when  he  told  us 
that  our  armies  were  manned  by  the  young  men  of  Canada  and 
our  munitions  factories  were  manned  by  the  women !  However, 
it  represents  a  united  people,  the  men  and  the  women  combined. 
And  again  to  refer  to  Canada,  and  I  have  said  I  would  not  refer 
to  it,  but  Canada  fills  such  a  large  place  in  the  Canadian  heart, 
you  get  away  from  it  for  a  while,  but  you  come  back  to  it ;  and  so 
I  come  back  to  say  that  notwithstanding  the  fact  that  we  don't  all 
speak  the  English  language, — there  are  many  who  speak  the 
French  language — we  are  all  British  in  sentiment,  and  there  is  no 
danger  to  Canada  from  our  French-Canadian  population.  They 
will  prove  a  source  of  strength  in  this  war  as  they  have  in  other 
wars,  and  it  is  well  for  us  never  to  forget  that  we  owe  a  great 
deal  to  the  French-Canadian  people. 

I  can  say,  in  a  word,  there  would  have  been  no  British  flag 
in  North  America  to-day  but  for  the  French-Canadian  people 
many  years  ago. 

Now,  as  to  our  relations,  it  is  true  that  we  are  two  separate 
nations,  but  we  two  separate  nations  are  one  people.    The  liberty 


306       ONE  HUNDRED  PER  CENT  AMERICAN 

that  you  fought  for  a  hundred  and  thirty  years  ago  is  as  dear  to 
the  nations  of  the  world  to-day  as  it  was  to  the  Thirteen  Colonies 
in  the  New  England  States.  It  seems  a  curious  and  yet  a  natural 
thing  that  a  free  country  is  able  to  produce  the  men  that  are  re- 
quired for  the  occasion.  In  your  great  crisis  you  produced  your 
George  Washington.  Although  you  had  not,  in  one  sense,  your 
freedom,  yet  your  aspirations  in  that  direction  bore  fruit.  It  gave 
forth  Washington  and  the  other  great  men  who  laid  the  founda- 
tions of  this  great  Republic. 

At  that  same  time  England  had  not  free  constitutional  gov- 
ernment. It  may  be  a  coincidence,  but  we  had  a  mad  king.  Go 
across  the  Atlantic  to-day  and  you  have  a  nation — the  German 
nation  is  said  not  to  possess  the  blessings  of  free  government,  and 
a  similar  coincidence — they  have  a  mad  Kaiser ! 

A  little  further  on  you  had  another  crisis  in  your  history,  and 
it  gave  you  that  great  statesman  of  immortal  memory  too, 
Abraham  Lincoln. 

The  third  great  crisis  has  come  in  your  history.  The  man 
of  the  day  as  a  rule  receives  limited,  scant  justice  from  the  hands 
of  his  own  people;  but  I  was  rejoiced  to  see  with  what  unanimity 
you  applauded  the  mention  of  your  splendid,  patriotic  President, 
President  Wilson. 

I  will  not  detain  you  any  further.  No  ;  I  am  not  going  to  tres- 
pass. I  have  only  one  observation  to  make.  It  is  this:  that  we 
as  one  people,  though  separated  by  the  international  boundary 
line  and  by  two  flags,  yet  rejoice  in  one  common  ancestry;  we 
are  bound  together  by  the  ties  of  friendship,  by  a  common  lan- 
guage, by  a  common  literature ;  we  trace  our  origins  politically 
from  what  we  now  are  proud  to  call  "Great  Britain,  the  Mother 
of  Free  Institutions,"  and  when  I  come  up  your  harbor,  coming 
across  the  Atlantic,  and  my  eyes  fall  upon  the  Statue  of  Liberty 
there,  my  mind  goes  back  always  in  gratitude  to  Great  Britain — 
you  will  pardon  me  for  giving  expression  to  the  sentiment,  I  am 
sure — for  having  pointed  out,  lighted  our  pathways  in  our  journey 
towards  a  higher  and  a  better  civilization. 

And  so  we  two  nations  must  now,  I  think,  instead  of  looking 
backward  to  see  wherein  we  differed  in  the  past,  study  the  present 
and  future,  to  see  where  there  may  be  the  closer  bonds  of  union 
between  us.  We  have  wiped  out,  I  hope,  from  every  school  book 
in  our  land  every  unkind  or  unfair  reference  to  our  neighbors 
and  I  know  that  you  have  done  it  in  your  country  as  well.  We 
will  never  be  in  the  future  what  we  have  been  in  the  past.  We 
shall  always  be  one  people  in  heart,  bound  together  by  sympathy, 
one  great  America,  to  overthrow,  either  to-day  or  to-morrow, 
whenever  he  raises  his  head,  the  god  of  might,  and  establish  in 


CANADA  IN  THE  WAR  307 

his  place  freedom,  civilization,  as  we  conceive  it,  upon  enduring 
foundations. 


FIVE:     BY  REVEREND  ALLAN  MACROSSIE,  D.D. 

I  have  lived  here  twenty-five  years,  and  I  think  I  know  a 
little  of  the  temperament  of  New  York  men.  I  heard  a  man 
say  a  few  minutes  ago,  "I  have  stood  now  all  that  I  can  stand;  I 
have  learned  so  much  that  I  can't  stand  any  more." 

I  think  I  know  a  little  bit  about  Canada.  I  happened  to  be 
in  the  city  of  Kingston,  at  the  Kingston  Club,  talking  with  a 
group  of  my  Canadian  friends ;  one  of  them  was  the  Dean  of  the 
School  of  Theology  of  the  Kingston  University,  whose  son  was  a 
Rhodes  Scholarship  man,  who  was  about  to  return. to  Canada,  and 
I  said  to  him,  "Are  you  not  paying  a  pretty  good  price  ?"  "Price?" 
said  he ;  "my  youngest  boy  goes  over  in  the  fall." 

I  turned  to  his  brother-in-law,  Judge  Farrell  of  Moose  jaw, 
Canada.  I  said,  "Alex,  where  are  the  boys !"  "Oh,"  he  said, 
"they  are  in  France." 

I  turned  to  a  representative  in  Parliament,  Mr.  Nichol,  and 
said,  "What  about  that  boy  of  yours?"  I  knew  he  was  in  the 
Princess  Patricia  at  eighteen  years  of  age,  had  been  wounded  and 
was  about  to  go  back.  Said  his  father,  "You  could  not  keep  him 
here." 

I  turned  to  Senator  Richardson  and  asked  him  about  his  boy. 
He  said,  "He  is  with  the  Princess  Pat  men ;  he  was  wounded  and 
will  return.  The  younger  lad  is  out  there  somewhere  on  a  sub- 
marine destroyer." 

When  you  have  men  so  glad,  so  proud,  so  normal,  with  all 
they  have  across  the  seas,  you  can  appreciate  the  spirit  in  which 
these  gentlemen  have  represented  Canada. 

It  was  my  very  great  privilege  when  in  Canada  to  receive  a 
cablegram  telling  me  to  go  at  once  to  England  and  from  England 
to  go  to  France.  It  was  an  easy  thing  to  fall  in  love  with  the 
British  Tommy;  but  our  American  soldiers  hardly  understand 
him ;  yet  they  respect  him  most  highly. 

As  for  the  Australian,  that  great,  big  scrappy  fellow,  I  think 
our  men  like  him  very,  very  much. 

As  to  the  New  Zealander,  they  admire  him,  he  works  so  per- 
fectly with  every  other  man. 

As  to  the  Scotchman  in  his  kilts,  when  you  know  him,  of 
course,  you  understand  him ;  but  you  have  to  have  a  little  Scotch 
blood  in  you  to  know  him. 


808       ONE  HUNDRED  PER  CENT  AMERICAN 

I  saw  one  day  some  of  our  American  soldiers  coming  down 
the  street,  and  I  heard  the  band  playing,  "Mine  Eyes  Have  Seen 
the  Glory  of  the  Coming  of  the  Lord,"  and  how  those  British 
soldiers  did  cheer !  I  noticed  that  they  cheered  and  cheered  and 
cheered,  again  and  again. 

All  the  days  I  was  in  London,  whenever  you  saw  soldiers  to- 
gether, you  would  find,  for  some  reason  or  other,  our  Americans 
with  the  Canadian  men.  There  is  something  about  us  so  closely 
related  to  each  other  that  we  instinctively  know  each  other.  Of 
course,  you  appreciate  the  fact  that  over  in  France  we  have  very 
much  to  do  for  the  French  people  and  for  the  French  soldiers, 
and  the  British  understand  that.  They  know  that  we  have  a 
great  debt  to  pay  to  France.  They  appreciate  it.  They  know. 
They  sympathize.  They  know  that  we  are  "over  there"  trying 
to  bear  the  burdens  of  France  for  the  sake  of  France  and  for  the 
sake  of  the  Allies. 

It  was  my  privilege  to  spend  an  afternoon  with  General 
Pershing.  He  spoke  of  what  the  American  Red  Cross  was  doing 
for  the  mutilated  soldiers  of  France,  and  for  the  women  and 
children.  You  must  not  forget  that  these  French  soldiers  were 
holding  the  line  for  us  these  fall  and  winter  months.  By  next 
spring  we  shall  have  five  or  six  hundred  thousand  soldiers,  thor- 
oughly equipped  and  well  trained,  and  then  by  that  time,  if  we 
can  keep  up  the  morale  of  the  French  soldiers,  with  our  allies,  the 
British  and  the  French,  we  shall  at  last  go  through  the  German 
line  and  bring  the  Kaiser  to  his  knees. 

But  there  is  just  one  thing  that  troubled  me  very  much,  and 
that  is,  in  reading  the  papers  of  late,  to  see  that  our  American 
soldiers  are  pretty  well  down  the  line.  I  think  the  papers  said 
Lorraine.  We  can  see  the  value  of  it,  that  if  it  is  true  that  so 
many  of  our  men  are  fairly  near  Lorraine,  and  if  it  should  be 
true  that  there  might  come  a  drive  in  that  direction,  I  can  see  what 
that  would  mean  for  France.  I  read  that  Great  Britain  had  taken 
over  some  of  the  French  line.  I  had  seen  in  the  early  summer 
very  much  going  on  at  St.  Quentin,  and  when  I  read  this  morning 
that  American  soldiers  were  up  in  the  Champagne  and  in  the 
Chemin  des  Dames,  and  that  they  were  very  near  the  British,  I 
said  to  myself :  "I  very  much  wish  that  in  some  way  General 
Haig  and  General  Petain  and  General  Pershing  could  get  together, 
and  if  only  those  Canadian  lads  could  come  down  near  the  Chemin 
des  Dames  and  the  American  soldiers  get  up  in  that  direction,  to 
my  way  of  thinking,  this  country  would  rejoice  beyond  measure 
if  we  can  get  somewhere  near  those  Canadian  soldiers.  Our  men 
will  certainly  be  at  their  very  best,  and  certainly,  so  far  as  we  are 
concerned,  we  shall  expect  them  to  do  even  more  than  their  best. 


CANADA  IN  THE  WAR  309 


SIX:    BY  THE  EARL  OF  ABERDEEN 

This  is  very  gratifying  and  very  embarrassing.  I  heard  Sir 
William  Mulock  say  he  was  an  "extra."  I  must  be  a  "last  min- 
ute!" 

I  am  very  glad  that  the  Chairman,  in  referring  to  Sir  William 
Mulock,  alluded  to  the  reduction  in  the  rate  of  postage. 

We  have  heard  a  good  deal  of  the  splendid  spirit  that  exists 
between  Canada  and  the  United  States ;  about  not  only  the  de- 
lightful relations  between  the  United  States  and  Canada,  but  also 
the  mutual  benefit  derived  from  that  happy  state  of  things,  and 
we  are  apt  to  take  very  good  things  as  a  matter  of  course.  I 
suppose  some  younger  generation  would  think  if  we  could  send 
a  letter  to  Great  Britain  for  the  small  sum  of  two  cents,  why  then 
we  ought  to ;  this  in  the  same  spirit  as  that  of  the  Irishman  who, 
when  he  saw  the  millions  of  tons  of  water  that  poured  over 
Niagara,  remarked,  "Well,  what's  to  hinder  it  ?"  We  may  call  Sir 
William  Mulock  the  "father  of  the  penny  postage."  Looking  back 
for  many  years,  the  penny  postage  was  heralded  as  one  of  the 
greatest  reforms  in  many  a  year,  and  I  remember  seeing  a  picture 
where  Sir  Rowland  Hill  was  shown  as  the  author  of  the  penny 
postage  in  England,  and  I  say  that  Sir  William  Mulock  is  a  sec- 
ond Sir  Rowland  Hill. 


NINTH  DISCUSSION 

MARCH   SECOND,    I918 
THE  ELEMENTS  OF  THE  PEACE  PROBLEM 


THE  ELEMENTS  OF  THE  PEACE  PROBLEM 


ONE:     BY  HONORABLE  JAMES  M.  BECK 

When  I  had  the  privilege  and  honor  of  visiting  the  western 
front  in  the  Summer  of  1916,  I  was  deeply  impressed  with  the 
abiding  confidence  which  the  two  commanders  of  the  French  and 
British  armies  felt  in  a  conclusive  victory  on  the  battlefield  in 
the  following  Spring.  At  that  time  the  French  were  not  only 
holding  their  own  at  Verdun,  but  slowly  pushing  the  invaders 
back,  while  on  the  Somme  Sir  Douglas  Haig's  armies  were  daily 
thrusting  their  foes  from  seemingly  impregnable  positions.  The 
feeling  was  general  that  the  end  was  in  sight,  and  I  can  no  better 
illustrate  this  than  by  stating  a  remark  that  General  Joffre  made 
to  me  at  the  end  of  an  interview  which  I  was  greatly  privileged 
to  have  with  him  at  his  headquarters  at  Chantilly.  This  was  early 
in  August,  1916,  and  he  asked  me  when  I  was  returning  to  Amer- 
ica. I  replied,  "Within  a  few  days,"  and  then,  with  a  quiet  smile, 
he  added  as  an  adieu,  "Come  back  in  twelve  months  and  the  war 
will  be  over." 

Were  these  two  great  commanders  cheating  themselves  with 
vain  delusions?  Were  they  simply  indulging  in  idle  boasts  in 
the  manner  of  the  Homeric  heroes?  Both  General  Haig  and 
General  Joffre  are  men  of  very  few  words.  They  never  indulge 
in  vain  prophecies,  and  neither  of  them  has  in  the  slightest  degree 
the  spirit  of  boasting.  Their  confident  belief  in  an  early  victory 
was  based  upon  seemingly  sure  premises  and  sound  reasoning. 
They  knew  that  on  the  western  front  they  had  at  length  attained 
a  manifest  superiority  in  artillery,  man  power,  and  airplanes. 
This  they  had  demonstrated  on  the  Somme  with  six  months  of 
almost  consistent  victories.  What  is  more  important,  they  knew 
that  Russia's  mighty  armies  were  being  slowly  equipped  by  the 
material  resources  of  Great  Britain,  France,  Japan,  and  the 
United  States,  and  that  by  the  Spring  of  1917  they  would  be  in 
a  position  of  overwhelming  superiority  on  the  eastern  front.  They 
knew  that  the  Russians  were  good  soldiers  and  had  as  able  gen- 
erals as  those  of  any  country,  for  the  greatest  victories,  except 
that  of  the  Marne,  which  had  been  won  for  the  Allies,  had  been 
those  of  the  Russian  armies.     Twice  they  had  invaded  Eastern 

313 


314   ONE  HUNDRED  PER  CENT  AMERICAN 

Prussia  and  twice  they  had  swept  in  triumph  through  Galicia  and 
reached  the  crest  of  the  Carpathians,  from  which  they  could  view 
the  plains  of  Hungary.  They  had  suffered  only  two  disasters,  the 
one  at  Tannenberg  through  either  the  stupidity  or  the  treachery 
of  their  generals,  and  the  other  at  Donajec,  where,  through  the 
failure  of  the  Russian  Government,  either  through  maladminis- 
tration or  treachery,  to  forward  the  necessary  supplies  or  muni- 
tions, they  had  been  forced  back.  All  this  was  being  remedied 
in  the  manner  I  have  indicated,  and  there  was,  therefore,  a  very 
resonable  expectation  that  in  the  Spring  of  19 17  the  Teutonic 
armies  would  face  forces  both  on  the  eastern  and  western  fronts 
of  such  manifest  superiority  as  to  justify  but  one  conclusion  as 
to  the  result  on  one  or  the  other  front.  The  military  power  of 
Germany  would  be  crushed.    It  seemed  to  be  written  in  the  stars. 

All  these  expectations  have  been  falsified.  The  mighty  Rus- 
sian Army,  in  itself  once  potentially  capable  of  defeating  both 
Germany  and  Austria,  has  crumbled  into  cureless  ruin,  and  when 
we  ask  the  reason  for  this  most  terrible  debacle  in  the  history  of 
the  world  we  find  the  answer  in  the  recent  lament  of  the  Russian 
Prime  Minister,  Lenine.  when  he  said  that  the  suicide  of  Russia, 
who,  like  the  blinded  Samson  has  pulled  down  the  stately  pillars 
of  civilization,  was  due  primarily  and  chiefly  to  the  spirit  of  doc- 
trinaire phrase  making  and  visionary  pacificism.  To  this  he  at- 
tributes the  ruin  of  his  country,  and  only  a  few  days  ago  he  again 
reproached  the  grandiloquent  orators  of  the  Bolshevist  parties  by 
attacking  the  "intoxication  of  revolutionary  phraseology,"  and 
adding:  "I  am  waging  a  war  against  revolutionary  phrase  mon- 
gering,  which  I  consider  the  greatest  danger  to  our  party,  and 
therefore,  to  the  revolution.  The  bitter  truth  is  now  plain  to 
everybody.  .  .  .  We  shall  create  a  revolutionary  army  by  work 
and  organization,  not  by  means  of  high-sounding  words  and 
phrases,  like  the  eloquence  of  those  who,  in  January,  tried  for  one 
month  without  doing  anything  to  prevent  our  troops  from  run- 
ning away.'' 

I  have  ventured  to  call  your  attention  to  the  disintegrating 
force  of  phrase  making,  for,  in  my  judgment,  not  only  Russia, 
but  the  entire  cause  of  the  Allies,  the  holiest  for  which  men  ever 
fought,  is  threatened  by  the  tendency  to  convert  the  sacred  cause 
into  mere  formulas  and  phrases. 

To  denounce  all  phrases  in  a  protest  against  phrase  making 
would  be  to  repeat  the  very  folly  against  which  the  warning  is 
made,  for  there  are  phrases  and  phrases.  If  an  idea  is,  as  it  often 
may  be,  greater  than  an  army,  and  more  potential  for  good  or  evil, 
then  the  phrase  in  which  it  is  clothed  must  have  a  vital  force. 
Carlyle  said  of  Luther  that  his  words  were  in  themselves  battles, 


THE  ELEMENTS  OF  THE  PEACE  PROBLEM    815 

and  again  and  again  in  the  history  of  the  world  a  whole  situation 
has  been  illuminated  with  a  phrase,  more  potent  in  carrying  a 
nation  to  victory  than  an  army  corps.  The  rallying  cry  of  the 
French  Revolution,  "Liberty,  Equality,  and  Fraternity,"  has  had 
its  stimulating  effect  upon  France  for  generations,  and  the  great 
victory  on  the  Marne  was  won  not  merely  by  the  masterly  genius 
of  Joffre,  but  because  the  French  poilu,  even  after  his  terrible 
retreat  from  the  Sambre  and  Meuse  to  the  Marne,  had  not  lost 
his  morale.  This  was  chiefly  due  to  the  noble  spirit  of  the  fra- 
ternity, the  comradeship  which  made  officers  and  privates  brethren, 
that  enable  France  to  turn  upon  the  invader  and  sweep  him  back 
fifty  miles  to  the  Aisne. 

When  a  corrupt  French  Government  a  century  ago  refused 
just  reparation  to  America  unless  its  officials  were  bribed,  the 
phrase  of  an  American  Envoy,  "Millions  for  defense  and  not  a 
cent  for  tribute,"  epitomized  in  a  few  words  the  whole  situation 
and  the  justice  of  our  cause. 

Lincoln's  phrase,  in  his  Gettysburg  speech,  that  "Government 
for  the  people,  of  the  people,  and  by  the  people  should  not  perish 
from  the  earth,"  gave  eloquent  expression  to  the  passion  and 
sense  of  union  which  carried  us  through  the  Civil  War.  Wilson's 
statement  that  we  must  "Make  the  world  safe  for  democracy"  has 
vital  force,  for  it  emphasizes  one  issue  of  this  world  war,  plain 
to  all  classes  of  Americans,  and  that  is  that  in  this  age  of  democ- 
racy we  do  not  propose  to  have  a  Hohenzollern  autocrat  dominate 
the  destinies  of  this  fair  world. 

There  are  phrases  and  phrases.  "Too  proud  to  fight"  was, 
we  will  all  now  agree,  a  deadly  phrase.  It  not  only  humiliated 
this  nation  in  the  eyes  of  the  world,  but  it  sapped  the  spirit  of  the 
people  by  presenting  to  them  the  ideal  of  a  false  pacifism.  An 
even  deadlier  phrase  was  "Peace  without  victory,"  which  sowed 
the  seeds  of  disintegration  not  only  in  Russia,  but  in  the  peoples 
of  its  Allies.  These  unfortunate  platitudes  may  well  be  forgotten 
in  the  later  utterances  of  the  President  when  in  felicitous  lan- 
guage he  held  up  to  the  American  people  the  great  ideal  of  justice. 
Thus,  in  his  great  speech  to  Congress  of  last  December,  President 
Wilson  nobly  summarized  the  whole  situation  as  follows : 

"We  are  the  spokesmen  of  the  American  people,  and  they  have 
a  right  to  know  whether  their  purpose  is  ours .  They  desire  peace 
by  the  overcoming  of  evil,  by  the  defeat  once  for  all  of  the  sinister 
forces  that  interrupt  peace  and  render  it  impossible.  They  are 
impatient  with  those  who  desire  peace  by  any  sort  of  compromise 
— deeply  and  indignantly  impatient — but  they  will  be  equally  im- 
patient with  us  if  we  do  not  make  it  plain  to  them  what  our 
objects  are  and  what  we  are  planning  for  in  seeking  to  make  a 


316   ONE  HUNDRED  PER  CENT  AMERICAN 

conquest  of  peace  by  arms.  I  believe  I  speak  for  them  when  I  say 
two  things :  first,  that  this  intolerable  Thing,  of  which  the  Mas- 
ters of  Germany  have  shown  us  the  ugly  face,  this  menace  of  com- 
bined intrigue  and  force,  which  we  now  see  so  clearly  as  the  Ger- 
man Power,  a  Thing  without  conscience  or  honor  or  capacity  for 
covenanted  peace,  must  be  crushed,  and  if  it  be  not  brought  utterly 
to  an  end,  at  least  shut  out  from  the  friendly  intercourse  of  the 
nations." 

These  were  noble  utterances,  voicing  the  true  spirit  of  the  best 
American  sentiment,  and  admirably  served  to  defeat  the  latent 
spirit  of  a  false  pacificism,  which  is  our  chief  danger.  They  up- 
hold to  the  American  people  a  high  ideal.  They  nerve  us  to  our 
great  task.    The  Thing  "must  be  crushed." 

The  leader  of  a  people,  who  is  called  upon  to  voice  their  senti- 
ments and  direct  their  energies,  has  an  onerous  task  and  a  heavy 
responsibility.  He  may  make  or  mar  the  power  of  the  nation. 
It  will  not  do  to  say  that  this  is  a  time  for  deeds  and  not  for  words, 
for  that  in  itself  is  a  phrase  that  is  false  through  undue  generaliza- 
tion, but  no  phrase  or  formula  is  valuable  that  does  not  square 
with  the  realities  of  the  present  and  voice  the  true  meaning  of 
the  people.  Thus  many  phrases  now  in  use,  such  as  "the  freedom 
of  the  seas"  and  the  "right  of  self-definition"  of  peoples,  are 
unfortunate  because  they  do  not  represent  realities.  "The  free- 
dom of  the  seas,"  so  called,  means  the  right  of  a  neutral,  immune 
from  search,  seizure,  or  capture,  to  sell  goods  to  a  belligerent. 
This  right  we  challenged  in  our  own  Civil  War,  and  if  we  had  not 
denied  the  "freedom  of  the  seas"  the,  Civil  War  would  have  been 
prolonged  and  the  cause  of  the  Union  possibly  defeated.  We  are 
denying  now  the  right  of  neutral  nations  to  ship  goods  to  Ger- 
many, and  thus  our  assertion  of  "the  freedom  of  the  seas"  not  only 
wounds  a  faithful  ally,  but  is  contrary  to  our  present  and  past 
policies.  We  do  not  propose  that  neutral  nations  shall  for  gain 
sustain  Germany  and  thus  by  prolonging  the  war  make  greater 
sacrifices  of  our  lives  and  treasure. 

"The  right  of  self-definition"  is  equally  misleading.  We  did 
not  give  to  the  Southern  States  in  our  Civil  War  the  right  to  form 
a  separate  Government,  nor  did  we  apply  principles  of  self-defini- 
tion when  we  acquired  Florida,  Louisiana,  Caliornia,  Alaska,  the 
Philippine  Islands,  and  Porto  Rico.  Why,  then,  suggest  as  a 
formula  of  peace  a  principle  which,  while  it  upholds  an  idea  of 
some  value,  does  not  represent  the  realities  of  life  or  the  policies 
of  America?  The  map  of  the  world  cannot  be  determined  upon 
the  basis  of  any  such  generalization.  This  is  indeed  a  time  of 
"blood  and  iron."  Only  realities  count  and  sounding  platitudes, 
which  do  not  represent  our  true  purpose  and  meaning,  tend  to 


THE  ELEMENTS  OF  THE  PEACE  PROBLEM    317 

obscure  judgment  and  paralyze  the  nation's  will.  Certainly  they 
lead  us  nowhere. 

Again,  an  effective  phrase  by  the  spokesman  of  a  nation 
must  represent  the  highest  aspirations  of  the  people.  While  the 
"peace  without  victory,"  which  sought  to  compromise  the  world's 
greatest  war  by  leaving  the  main  issue  unsettled,  was  not  thus 
representative,  President  Wilson's  later  declaration,  that  the  peo- 
ple of  this  country  were  "impatient,  deeply  and  indignantly  im- 
patient, with  those  who  desired  peace  with  any  sort  of  compro- 
mise," and  his  further  declaration  that  this  was  a  war  to  the 
death  against  the  imperial  Government  of  Germany,  a  "Thing 
without  conscience  or  honor  or  capacity  for  covenanted  peace," 
expresses  in  the  most  virile  phrase  the  sentiment  which  recon- 
ciles the  American  people  to  the  inevitable  sacrifices  of  blood  and 
treasure.  Had  Kerensky  and  Trotzky,  instead  of  weakening  the 
morale  of  the  Russian  people  by  the  most  visionary  idealism, 
simply  asserted  that  the  honor  of  Russia  was  pledged  to  a  war 
to  a  finish,  and  that  to  desert  her  allies,  who  came  into  the  war 
in  response  to  her  appeal  for  help,  was  to  play  the  part  of  Judas 
Iscariot,  then  the  Russian  revolution  might  not  have  suffered 
so  pitiable  a  collapse.  "Words,  words,  words !"  defeated  Russia, 
not  the  military  prowess  of  Prussia.  As  all  bellicose  phrases 
are  mischievous  in  the  period  of  a  just  peace,  similarly  all  paci- 
fist platitudes  are  mischievous  in  the  death  grapple  of  war.  If 
a  pedestrian  is  attacked  by  a  footpad  with  a  bludgeon,  he  does 
not  in  the  heat  of  the  struggle  for  life  discuss  the  virtue  of 
honesty,  nor  does  a  householder,  when  he  confronts  a  burglar  in 
the  dead  of  night,  and  knows  that  it  is  the  burglar's  life  or  his 
own  that  is  at  stake,  waste  his  breath  with  discussing  during 
the  death  grapple  the  ethical  basis  of  property  rights  or  the 
problems  of  penology. 

It  is  for  this  reason  that  I,  personally,  feel  constrained  to 
question  the  wisdom  of  the  recent  peace  parleys,  especially  when 
conducted  at  a  time  when  the  enemy  is  flushed  with  victory. 
Our  President  has  said  that  the  Imperial  German  Government 
is  a  "Thing  without  conscience  or  honor  or  capacity  for  cove- 
nanted peace."  That  is  the  deliberate  conviction  of  the  American 
people ;  if  it  was  not,  they  would  not  be  in  the  war  with  the  degree 
of  unanimity  that  has  confounded  our  enemies  and  surpassed 
even  the  most  sanguine  expectations  of  those  who,  like  myself, 
wished  from  the  beginning  that  our  country  would  abandon  its 
policy  of  neutrality.  The  Government  of  Berlin  has  not  changed. 
If  it  was  last  December  "without  capacity  for  a  covenanted 
peace,"  why,  then,  should  our  Government  now  parley  with  Ber- 
lin and  Vienna,  and  why  whittle  down  the  great  cause  of  punitive 


818       ONE  HUNDRED  PER  CENT  AMERICAN 

justice  to  fourteen  formulas,  some  of  which  are  vague  and 
illusory  in  meaning,  some  altogether  admirable,  and  at  least  one 
of  which  was  against  our  historic  policies  and  the  best  interests 
of  our  allies? 

I  fully  recognize  that  the  President  has  greater  sources  of 
knowledge  than  are  available  to  any  of  his  fellow  citizens.  I 
do  not  question  his  wholehearted  purpose  to  carry  our  war  to  a 
successful  conclusion,  but  he  is  surrounded  with  influences  that 
do  not  regard  this  war  as  a  holy  crusade  for  liberty  and  justice, 
but  as  an  unfortunate  quarrel  between  equally  well-meaning 
nations,  which  by  the  requisite  amount  of  diplomatic  finesse  can 
be  brought  to  a  conclusion  by  a  shifty  compromise.  If  the 
President  will  eliminate  from  his  councils  the  intriguers,  pacifists, 
doctrinaires,  and  the  other  intellectual  Bolsheviki,  he  will  confirm 
the  confidence  which  his  countrymen  have  so  fully  and  un- 
grudgingly given  him.  Party  spirit  is  non-existent.  The  whole 
people  are  behind  their  chosen  leader,  but  they  want  him  to  lead 
them  to  victory,  not  to  a  compromise.  They  will  tolerate  mis- 
takes, but  not  a  retreat  from  our  high  emprise. 

While  the  value  of  President  Wilson's  speech  on  January 
8th,  with  its  fourteen  formulas,  may  be  open  to  fair  debate  and 
a  reasonable  difference  of  opinion  between  men  of  equal  patriot- 
ism and  intelligence,  yet  his  later  speech  of  February  nth,  when 
the  fourteen  formulas  were  again  whittled  down  to  four  ex- 
ceedingly vague  formulas,  does  not  seem  to  me  to  be  open  to 
such  debate.  Nothing  more  unfortunate  has  happened  since 
we  entered  the  war.  It  revives  old  doubts.  It  bewilders  our 
judgment.    It  disturbs  our  morale. 

That  these  formulas  tend  to  dissipate  the  great  moral  issues 
of  the  war  into  meaningless  phrases  can  best  be  shown  by  the 
fact  that  the  German  Chancellor  had  no  difficulty  whatever  in 
accepting  them.  Thus  the  statement  that  "each  part  of  the  final 
settlement  must  be  based  on  the  essential  justice  of  that  particular 
case"  does  not  get  the  discussion  of  peace  very  far,  for  if  we 
have  learned  anything  in  this  war  it  is  that  the  German  concep- 
tion of  justice  is  not  that  of  the  rest  of  the  world.  The  state- 
ment that  "peoples  and  provinces  are  not  to  be  bartered  about 
as  pawns"  is  too  vague  for  concrete  application,  as  is  the  third 
formula,  that  territorial  settlements  are  to  be  made  "in  the  inter- 
ests and  for  the  benefit  of  the  population  concerned."  Here, 
again,  Germany  can  accept  the  formula  in  principle,  for,  taking 
the  specific  instance  of  Poland,  it  would  contend  that  from  its 
standpoint  the  interests  of  the  Polish  population  would  be  sub- 
served by  German  rather  than  by  Russian  rule.  The  nearest 
approach  to  a  specific  formula  capable  of  concrete  application,  is 


THE  ELEMENTS  OF  THE  PEACE  PROBLEM    319 

the  fourth,  but  its  practical  meaning  is  defeated  by  the  proviso, 
for,  while  it  says  that  "all  well-defined  national  aspirations  shall 
be  accorded  the  utmost  satisfaction,"  it  is  with  the  proviso  that 
such  recognition  shall  be  "without  introducing  new  or  perpetuat- 
ing old  elements  of  discord  and  antagonism."  This  certainly 
does  not  lead  us  very  far,  for  taking  the  specific  instance  of 
Poland  again,  if  the  Allies  in  applying  these  formulas  shall,  as 
I  fervently  hope,  seek  to  erect  an  independent  Poland  on  its 
ancient  historic  lines  by  incorporating  the  present  German  and 
Austrian  Poland,  Germany  would  reply  that  to  take  a  portion 
of  Germany  to  reinstate  the  old  nation  of  Poland  would  per- 
petuate an  old  element  of  discord,  if  it  did  not  introduce  a  new 
one. 

It  may  be  suggested  that  these  formulas  which  are  thus  pro- 
posed to  a  Government  characterized  only  last  December  as  a 
"Thing  without  conscience  or  honor  or  capacity  for  covenanted 
peace,"  do  no  harm,  but  may  do  good  in  disintegrating  the  Cen- 
tral Powers.  The  more  we  depart  from  the  great  ideal  of  jus- 
tice, and  attempt  to  reach  an  impossible  ground  between  justice 
and  injustice,  the  more  we  weaken  our  own  cause  and  strengthen 
that  of  our  enemies. 

The  best  way  to  win  the  war  is  to  stop  talking  peace,  and  the 
surest  way  to  lose  it  is  to  dissipate  the  energies  of  our  people 
by  premature  parleys  for  peace,  especially  where  they  are  on 
our  own  initiative  and  do  not  represent  the  judgment  or  wishes 
of  our  faithful  allies,  who  for  more  than  three  years  sustained 
without  our  aid  the  awful  burden  of  the  war. 

If  the  great  quarrel  between  the  Central  Powers  and  the 
rest  of  the  world  shall  be  compromised  by  conventional  formu- 
las and  without  punitive  justice,  then  the  dead  will  have  died  in 
vain.  Such  possibility  fills  men  of  vision  with  the  gravest  concern 
as  to  the  portentous  possibilities  of  the  present  peace  parleys.  .  .  . 

I  fully  recognize  that  the  President  has  an  intimate  knowledge 
of  undisclosed  facts  that  are  not  accessible  to  his  fellow  citizens. 
We  must  assume  that  he  has,  by  reason  of  his  larger  knowledge 
of  facts,  a  wider  vision.  He  has  doubtless  carefully  considered 
the  grave  question  whether  peace  parleys  may  not  demoralize  the 
Central  Powers  in  their  present  hour  of  temporary  success  far 
less  than  the  temporarily  baffled  Allies.  Time  alone  will  tell, 
and  it  may  be  premature  to  pass  judgment  upon  the  wisdom  of 
our  President's  very  skillful  parleying  with  the  enemy.  If  he 
succeeds  he  will  be,  beyond  question,  the  first  statesman  of  the 
age  and  a  masterful  figure  in  the  greatest  crisis  of  history.  If 
he  fails,  and  the  right  arm  of  the  Allies  shall  be  weakened  by 
the  "give  and  take"  of  this  diplomatic  duel,  then  his  will  be  a 


320       ONE  HUNDRED  PER  CENT  AMERICAN 

very  heavy  responsibility.  Our  respect  for  his  greater  knowledge 
and  larger  vision  makes  us  hope  that,  even  though  Berlin  and 
Vienna  are  now  decked  with  the  flags  of  triumph,  the  present 
time  for  peace  parleys  may  not  be  as  unpropitious  as  would  other- 
wise seem  probable. 

In  this  connection  it  is  to  be  noted  that  the  Kaiser  suggests  no 
formulas  and  makes  no  promises.  Speaking  a  few  days  ago  to 
the  Burgomaster  of  Hamburg  on  the  occasion  of  the  treaty  of 
peace  with  the  Ukraine  Republic,  the  Kaiser  said: 

"We  desire  to  live  in  friendship  with  neighboring  peoples, 
but  the  victory  of  the  German  armies  must  first  be  recognized. 
Our  troops  under  the  great  Hindenburg  will  continue  to  win  it. 
Then  peace  will  come." 

I  confess  there  is  to  me  much  that  is  practical  in  what  the 
Kaiser  has  thus  said.  The  best  way  to  secure  peace  is  to  win 
the  war.  With  my  more  limited  vision  I  greatly  fear  that  until 
the  war  is  won  no  satisfactory  terms  can  be  arrived  at  by  com- 
promise. My  chief  concern  lies  in  the  fact  that  in  the  peace 
parleys  there  seems  to  be  a  notable  crescendo  in  the  note  of 
expediency  and  a  corresponding  diminuendo  in  the  note  of 
justice. 

The  heavenly  vision  of  punitive  justice,  which  sent  millions 
to  battle  in  19 14  and  191 5,  seems  to  be  fading  from  the  eyes 
of  men  even  as  the  vision  of  the  first  Christmas  night  faded  from 
the  eyes  of  the  shepherds.  No  longer  do  we  hear,  at  least  in- 
sistently, either  from  London,  Rome,  Paris  or  Washington,  the 
statement  that  the  Allies  will  not  make  any  peace  with  the  arch 
criminals,  the  Hohenzollern  regime.  Our  allies  are  modifying 
their  high  and  noble  aims  to  harmonize  them  with  our  attempt 
to  compromise  the  quarrel  by  an  exchange  of  formulas  with  a 
power  only  last  December  characterized  as  not  having  sufficient 
honor  for  a  "covenanted  peace."  No  longer  do  we  hear  that  the 
men  who  have  violated  international  law,  outraged  the  funda- 
mental properties  of  civilization,  and  reduced  the  morals  of  the 
twentieth  century  in  the  matter  of  war  to  those  of  the  cave 
dweller,  shall  be  tried  and  punished. 

Fortunately,  as  this  is  a  war  of  peoples,  so  in  a  sense  it  can 
only  be  a  treaty  of  peace  by  peoples,  and  while  belligerency  as  a 
technical  status  may  be  ended  by  the  exchange  of  ratifications, 
yet  the  peoples  of  England,  France  and  the  United  States  will 
not  forget  as  long  as  any  man  now  lives  the  shameful  and  count- 
less atrocities  which  have  made  this  war  the  vilest  and  ghastliest 
tragedy  that  the  world  has  ever  known.  The  question  rises  above 
formulas,  however  adroitly  phrased.  It  is,  in  its  last  analysis, 
one  of  moral  psychology. 


THE  ELEMENTS  OF  THE  PEACE  PROBLEM    321 

Unless  the  Prussian  is  beaten  and  knows  that  he  is  beaten, 
all  the  dead  will  have  died  in  vain,  for  even  if  a  treaty  of  peace 
could  be  secured  at  this  time  that  would  be  otherwise  favorable 
to  the  Allies,  but  which  left  the  Hohenzollern  on  his  throne,  as 
soon  as  Germany  had  recuperated  its  strength,  as  Prussia  did 
under  Frederick  the  Great,  the  life  and  death  struggle  between 
liberalism  and  autocracy  would  be  renewed. 

If  we  are  to  have  a  liberal  civilization,  there  is  no  room  for 
the  Hohenzollern  in  it.  With  him  or  his  brood  on  the  throne 
the  rule  of  reason  will  cease  in  international  affairs  and  the  only 
right  will  be  that  of  the  powers  of  destructive  chemistry.  Civili- 
zation would  then  be  a  hell,  with  the  Kaiser  and  his  successors 
as  the  possible  overlords. 

The  sacred  cause  of  justice — punitive  justice — must  not  be 
compromised. 


TWO:     BY  DOCTOR  D.  J.  McCARTHY 

Professor  of  Medical  Jurisprudence,  University  of  Pennsyl- 
vania. 

Following  Mr.  Beck's  remarks  and  with  convictions  very 
much  along  the  same  lines,  with  the  experience  that,  I  take  it,  in 
this  war,  at  least,  has  been  rare,  of  fighting  on  both  sides,  fight- 
ing with  the  French  and  fighting  in  Germany  against  them,  with 
that  experience,  I  take  it  that  I  have  possibly  an  insight  and 
possibly  a  conviction  about  this  war  which  comes  from  a  matter 
of  experience. 

I  started  in  the  war,  I  might  say,  possibly  like  a  pacifist.  All 
we  Irish  are  pacifists  until  the  fight  begins !  I  went  into  the 
French  lines,  and  I  don't  know  of  anything  that  impressed  me 
philosophically  as  quite  so  silly  as  the  settlement  of  an  argument 
by  physical  warfare.  It  appeared  to  me  academic  to  settle  an 
argument  by  the  ruthless  destruction  of  men  by  the  hundreds  of 
thousands.  It  seemed  to  me  silly  and  foolish  and  ridiculous  to 
attempt  to  adjust  in  that  manner  something  which  could  be 
settled  by  five  men  sitting  around  a  table — the  argument  as  it 
existed  at  that  time.  But,  I  had  not  been  in  Germany  at  that 
time.  After  I  had  spent  most  of  a  year  in  Germany,  the  war 
was  not  silly  and  not  ridiculous;  to-day  it  is  not  silly;  to-day 
it  is  not  ridiculous;  and,  if  conditions  go  on  as  they  are,  and  if 
the  American  people  do  not  wake  up  to  this  responsibility,  to 
what  this  war  and  the  military  situation  at  the  present  time 
means,  this  war  will  go  on  for,  not  until  next  Fall,  but  for  years. 


322   ONE  HUNDRED  PER  CENT  AMERICAN 

As  Mr.  Beck  says,  the  impression  you  get  from  the  training 
camp,  from  these  men  in  khaki,  that  they  will  never  get  to  France 
to  fight,  is  wrong.  What  Mr.  Beck  knows  and  what  I  know  and 
what  those  of  us  who  have  been  in  contact  with  the  Russian 
situation  know,  is  that  to  get  a  final  decision  over  Germany  is  no 
child's  play.  The  question  which  faces  you  and  me  and  the 
American  nation  is  not  from  the  college  man's  standpoint,  where 
you  go  for  a  hundred  yards,  or  you  go  for  a  quarter-mile  sprint, 
or  you  go  for  a  mile.  The  supreme  test  that  is  going  to  come  to 
the  American  people,  the  American  people  on  whom  the  final 
decision  from  a  military  standpoint  has  been  placed,  is,  whether 
it  will  go  for  a  Marathon  or  not.  That  is  the  question  that  faces 
the  American  people  to-day. 

I  went  into  Germany  with  an  academic  interest  in  the  war, 
with  my  sympathies  with  the  French  and  with  my  sympathies  with 
the  ideals  for  which  the  French  were  fighting,  and  it  didn't  take 
me  very  long  in  Germany  to  realize  what  Germany  stood  for 
then  and  what  she  stands  for  now.  The  Minister  of  Foreign 
Affairs  might  say  what  he  liked  about  foreign  or  neutral  opinion ; 
he  might  give  you  promises  galore,  and  the  same  thing  might 
be  given  to  you  by  von  Bethmann-Hollweg ;  but,  gentlemen,  it 
wouldn't  count.  The  people  who  counted  in  Germany  then  and 
the  people  who  count  in  Germany  now  are  the  twenty-one  Army 
Corps  Commanders.  They  are  the  Government  of  Germany; 
they  have  the  say-so;  and  linked  with  those  twenty-one  Army 
Corps  Commanders  at  that  time  and  still  linked  with  them  was  the 
so-called  Seeks  Verband,  an  organized  government  trust  of  every 
interest  in  Germany,  and  with  them  the  Junkers ;  and  it  did  not 
make  any  difference  to  them  what  the  Minister  of  Foreign  Af- 
fairs or  von  Bethmann-Hollweg  felt  or  said;  it  was  what 
those  twenty-one  Army  Corps  Commanders  felt  and  said; 
and  you  may  play  with  words  as  von  Hertling  plays 
with  words  and  formulas  and  what  not ;  but  unless  those  twenty- 
one  Army  Corps  Commanders  subscribe  to  those  conditions,  there 
will  be  no  peace  and  we  in  America  must  recognize  that,  that 
there  is  not  going  to  be  any  peace,  and  we  must  prepare  for  it. 

If  the  war  lasts  five  years  it  will  be  no  surprise  to  me.  It 
may  be  over  in  two  or  three  years ;  it  may  go  on  for  five ;  but 
we  must  face  the  issue.  As  Mr.  Beck  says,  if  it  goes  on  for  ten, 
it  will  go  on. 

I  came  here  to  talk  to  you  on  the  question  of  the  German 
propaganda,  of  what  it  meant  and  what  it  stood  for.  Facing 
these  twenty-one  Army  Corps  Commanders  of  Germany  a  run- 
ning fight  is  going  on  for  what  is  straight  and  right  and  humane 
toward  the  prisoners  of  war,  for,  in  those  long  months,  I  came  to 


THE  ELEMENTS  OF  THE  PEACE  PROBLEM    323 

realize  what  they  stood  for.  A  straight  line  from  a  military 
standpoint  was  a  straight  line,  and  it  made  no  difference  whether 
human  rights  or  life  stood  in  the  way.  It  made  no  difference  to 
them  that  the  representatives  of  Germany  had  promised  they 
would  live  according  to  the  rules  that  they  had  subscribed  to  in 
the  Hague  Convention. 

Take  the  case  of  the  Irish  prisoners  at  Limberg,  one  of  the 
seduction  camps  for  those  prisoners  whom  Germany  hoped  to 
lure  away  from  their  allegiance  to  the  Allies.  Here  the  Irish 
prisoners  were  segregated  and  at  first  given  the  best  of  treatment 
in  every  way.  They  sent  Casement  there,  a  privileged  character, 
to  do  something  for  the  entertainment  and  instruction  of  these 
Irish.  The  propaganda  included  many  lectures  on  the  history  of 
Ireland.  It  was  such  an  insult  to  the  Irish  intelligence  that 
the  second  time  he  appeared  in  the  camp  to  give  his  lectures  he 
was  licked  and  they  had  to  give  him  a  special  guard,  and  at  the 
end  of  several  months,  what  was  the  result  with  these  "ignorant 
Irish?"  Out  of  those  four  of  five  thousand,  only  a  pitiful  32 
were  lured  to  Germany,  and  the  Irish  afterwards,  in  talking 
about  it,  didn't  even  have  a  sense  of  humor.  When  you  tried 
to  poke  some  fun  at  these  32,  they  would  not  even  own  them  as 
Irish.  They  said  they  were  "Scotch-Irish !"  Renegade  American 
Irish,  as  they  said.  They  would  not  stand  for  them,  and  they 
took  their  pitiful  whole  of  32  "Scotch-Irish"  up  to  Berlin,  this 
wonderful  brigade  that  was  to  fight  for  the  Republic  of  Ireland, 
and  what  happened  to  it  there?  The  first  time  it  was  given  its 
liberty  it  got  gloriously  drunk  and  went  down  the  Frederick 
Strasse,  singing  "God  Save  the  King!"  And  then  it  underwent  a 
sudden  disappearance.  I  wanted  to  find  out  what  became  of  it, 
and  a  German  Foreign  officer  said,  "We  have  the  right  to  liberate 
prisoners  if  we  so  please;"  and  we  said  to  him,  "From  our  ex- 
perience in  these  prison  camps,  you  may  liberate  them,  but  you 
must  deliver  them  to  us  whenever  we  ask."  They  never  dared  to 
send  those  32  Irishmen  back  to  Limberg  where  essential  justice 
would  be  meted  out  to  them. 

The  same  thing  happened  at  the  military  prison  at  Cologne. 
We  inspected  it,  and  there  amongst  that  forlorn  lot  were  men 
sentenced  to  22  years  imprisonment.  I  came  to  red-headed  Irish- 
man and  said,  "What  is  the  matter  with  you?"  "Well,  Doctor," 
said  he,  "I  am  here  unjustly."  "Why  unjustly?"  "Well,"  he 
said,  "it's  this  sense  of  German  justice."  "What  is  the  matter 
with  German  justice?"  I  asked.  "Well,"  he  said,  "I  was  accused 
of  assaulting  and  hitting  the  guard."  I  said,  "Didn't  you  hit  the 
guard?"  "Well,"  he  said,  "the  trouble  is,  at  the  trial  the  guard 
appeared  against  me  at  the  court-martial,  and  his  head  was  all 


324   ONE  HUNDRED  PER  CENT  AMERICAN 

bound  up  and  they  said  to  him,  'What  happened?'  and  he  said 
that  I  hit  him  and  assaulted  him  and  tried  to  escape;"  and  he 
said,  "They  took  his  word  against  mine  when  I  denied  it."  I 
said  to  him,  "Well,  did  you  hit  the  guard?"  He  said,  "Yes,  I 
hit  him — just  once !" 

And  then,  when  I  told  him  I  was  Irish  too ;  that  my  name  was 
McCarthy ;  he  said,  "What's  that  ?  Your  name  McCarthy  ?  My 
name  is  McCarthy  too."  Then  he  went  on  to  tell  me  how  it  hap- 
pened. "It  was  just  this  way;  I  just  hit  him  one  wallop."  That 
was  the  idea  of  the  German  sense  of  justice  that  the  Irish  had 
at  Limberg. 

With  the  propaganda  at  the  prison  camp  at  Wunsdorf  the 
Germans  had  better  success.  They  got  a  hold  of  at  least  two 
thousand  Mohammedans  and  Hindus,  by  housing  them  in  what 
was  in  many  ways  the  model  camp  of  Germany.  Eventually  all 
the  Mohammedans  and  Hindus  were  concentrated  at  this  camp 
which  was  made  an  Oriental  paradise  and  where  their  political 
persuasion  met  with  a  high  degree  of  success.  As  I  say,  at  least 
two  thousand  of  them  went  over  and  fought  with  the  Turks 
against  the  French  with  whom  they  had  belonged. 

They  dispersed  most  of  these  men  out  of  these  camps,  and 
sent  them  to  working  camps,  and  at  the  working  camps  they 
kept  them  from  contact  with  their  people  at  home  and  refused 
to  deliver  to  them  the  food  packages  from  home.  When  the 
Irish  showed  the  slightest  resentment  to  this,  they  were  bayo- 
neted. Once  I  came  across  two  of  these  Irish  prisoners  who  had 
been  bayoneted  and  killed,  and  a  postcard  was  sent  back  to  the 
Irish  village  from  which  they  came,  saying  they  had  died  quietly 
in  the  hospital.  Just  as  soon  as  the  Mohammedans  would  fail 
them,  they  would  get  just  exactly  what  the  Irish  at  Limberg 
got. 

Then  came  the  time  in  the  German  prison  camp,  when,  ac- 
cording to  the  Hague  Convention,  an  officer  was  not  expected  to 
work,  and  they  became  a  problem  to  them.  They  said,  "We  will 
make  him  work."  It  was  Belgium  over  again,  and  they  picked 
out  the  worst  camp  in  Germany  and  put  over  them  the  worst 
general  they  had.  At  the  end  of  six  or  eight  hours  of  inspection, 
you  found  conditions  worse  than  those  at  Wittenberg,  for  vicious 
police  dogs  were  let  loose  in  these  barracks  and  in  the  com- 
pounds at  night.  Whenever  a  man  complained,  he  was  put  in 
close  confinement,  without  air  and  without  bed-clothes,  and  on  a 
bread-and-water  diet  for  three  days.  These  men  were  actually 
at  the  point  of  revolution,  facing  the  German  bayonets. 

One  went  across  the  road  and  found  there  in  crude  barracks 
some  three  or  four  hundred  of  the  more  badly  wounded  prisoners 


THE  ELEMENTS  OF  THE  PEACE  PROBLEM    325 

of  war,  brought  into  those  prison  barracks  without  any  nurses 
at  all,  with  practically  no  doctors,  with  practically  no  X-ray 
apparatus,  and  no  bandages,  to  help  them;  lying  there  on  the 
crude  bunks;  nothing  to  eat  but  the  dirty  soup  of  the  camp 
kitchen,  these  men  with  temperatures  of  103  and  104,  these  men 
of  the  prison  camp  dying  there.  You  would  find  one  man  with  a 
dirty  towel  in  his  teeth  in  the  convulsions  of  lockjaw. 

Up  in  the  camp  there  was  a  lay  reader  of  the  Church  of 
England  who,  when  he  wanted  to  go  down  and  give  dying  con- 
solation to  the  dying  men,  was  not  permitted  to  because  he  could 
not  show  credentials  that  he  was  an  ordained  clergyman  of  the 
Church  of  England. 

The  representatives  of  the  French  Army  Corps  said  to  me, 
"Doctor,  what  do  you  think  ought  to  be  done  about  this  camp  ?" 
"Well,"  I  said,  "there  is  only  one  thing  to  be  done  and  that  is  to 
burn  it  down."  I  never  believed  that  such  a  condition  could 
possibly  exist  in  a  civilized  community,  and  I  said  to  him,  "What 
are  you  going  to  do  about  it  ?"  He  said,  "I  will  report  down  at 
the  Army  Corps  Command."  I  said,  "Oh,  no,  you  don't ;  unless 
you  give  me  assurances  that  all  these  conditions  will  be  corrected, 
I  will  see  that  the  world  has  another  Wittenberg." 

Do  you  know  Wittenberg?  The  world  knows  Wittenberg, 
where  these  fifteen  thousand  men  were  herded  in  a  small  com- 
pound surrounded  by  barbed  wire.  When  the  most  contagious 
of  diseases  broke  out,  every  single  German  got  up  and  beat  it 
out  of  that  camp,  left  there,  and  left  those  men  alone.  You  can 
imagine  what  would  happen  to  you  with  this  epidemic  hitting 
you,  without  a  bit  of  attention.  I  can  imagine  what  happened  in 
Wittenberg,  and  I  saw  the  evidence.  What  did  they  do  at  Witten- 
berg? For  six  long  months  not  a  single  German  went  inside 
of  that  camp  to  give  a  bit  of  aid  to  these  hopelessly  sick  prisoners 
of  war.  Three  slept  on  a  mattress  covered  with  lice,  with  this 
horrible  disease — typhus — there.  They  took  five  British  sol- 
diers, members  of  the  British  Army  Corps — they  had  been  hold- 
ing them  there  for  months — they  took  five  of  them  and  dumped 
them  into  this  camp  at  Wittenberg,  and  out  of  those  five  brave 
men  dumped  there,  three  of  them  died  and  two  came  out.  And 
that  was  Wittenberg.  There  might  be  some  possible  excuse  on 
account  of  the  German  medical  profession  and  the  German  mili- 
tary being  struck  by  panic,  but  there  was  no  excuse  for  the  other, 
because  it  was  absolutely  unadulterated  cruelty.  It  simply  passes 
human  understanding  for  sheer  unadulterated  brutality.  And 
I  wrote  again  to  the  War  Office  and  said,  "This  thing  must  never 
happen  again.  It  simply  must  never  happen  again — such  a  con- 
dition of  affairs." 


326   ONE  HUNDRED  PER  CENT  AMERICAN 

Then  cross  the  line  (last  summer)  into  Russia,  and  what  do 
you  find?  Not  this  picayune  propaganda  trying  to  win  a  few 
Irish,  Mohammedans  and  Hindus  away  from  their  allegiance 
to  Great  Britain  and  France,  but  the  German  propaganda  play- 
ing with  the  fate,  not  only  of  Russia,  but  of  the  world.  When 
you  hear  of  German  propaganda  here,  oh,  it  is  a  vague  sort  of 
thing — you  don't  half  believe  it  because  every  factory  that  is 
burned  they  blame  the  Germans  for  it — but  from  March  ioth 
of  last  year  on,  you  could  not  move  anywhere  in  Russia  without 
putting  your  finger  on  German  propaganda.  You  could  not  fol- 
low it,  but  it  was  doing  its  dirty  work,  and  the  manifold  direc- 
tions in  which  German  propaganda  was  doing  that  dirty  work  in 
Russia  with  the  Russian  Republic  simply  passes  understand- 
ing. 

There  were  one  million  German  and  Austrian  prisoners  of 
war  in  Russia.  Most  of  those  one  million  prisoners  of  war  in 
Russia  were  out  in  working  camps,  working  with  the  Russian 
people,  billeted  with  their  employers.  Well,  after  the  revolution 
began,  began  the  Socialist  propaganda,  and  with  it  went  the  Ger- 
man propaganda,  and  by  September  of  last  year  every  German 
prisoner  of  war  was  a  German  propagandist,  supplied  with  in- 
formation from  the  German  propaganda.  That  was  only  a  small 
part  of  it.  The  big  part  of  it  was  the  direction  of  the  Russian 
Revolution  from  Germany.  You  may  talk  about  the  pages  of 
history  as  much  as  you  like.  I  always  believed  that  these  big 
revolutions  ran  their  way,  followed  a  certain  definite  course  be- 
cause it  was  unavoidable;  but  when  one  gets  close  enough  to 
this  Russian  Revolution  one  is  convinced  that  revolutions  do 
not  run  their  own  sweet  way;  that  revolutions  come  directed  to 
good  or  sinister  purposes,  just  as  you  please;  and,  from  the  be- 
ginning of  last  May  the  German  propaganda  was  directing  the 
Russian  Revolution  and  it  is  still  doing  it  up  to  this  very  minute, 
and  the  most  amazing  thing  about  it  is  that  it  has  completely 
succeeded  in  what  it  started  out  to  do.  And  that  success  of  the 
German  propaganda  was  due  to  this  wonderful  Lenine  that  Mr. 
Beck  thinks  so  highly  of  that  he  quotes  him  in  an  article  about 
phrases  and  phrase-making,  written  when  Lenine  and  the  Inter- 
national Socialists  were  the  phrase-makers  of  the  time. 

Do  you  know  how  Lenine  got  into  Russia?  Anybody  knows 
that  to  cross  from  one  country  which  is  an  Allied  country  through 
any  of  the  countries  of  the  Central  Powers  is  hard  enough,  it 
is  an  extremely  difficult  matter.  You  have  to  have  your  letters 
and  your  passports  vised  a  half  dozen  times.  But  to  cross 
from  Germany  into  Switzerland,  even  for  a  diplomat,  is  a  tre- 
mendous task;  yet  Lenine  with  his  party  of  International  So- 


THE  ELEMENTS  OF  THE  PEACE  PROBLEM    327 

cialists  came  from  Switzerland  into  Germany  through  Denmark, 
over  into  Russia.  How  did  he  do  it?  Were  the  Germans  so 
interested  in  the  Russian  Revolutionists  that  they  would  take  a 
party  of  International  Socialists,  that  they  would  take  them  into 
Russia  in  an  easy,  sociable  way?  No,  gentlemen;  they  knew 
where  money  properly  placed  with  their  propaganda  would  even- 
tually reach;  and  when  the  Provisional  Government  started  in 
the  beginning,  when  Kerensky  stopped  doing  the  bidding  of  the 
Soviet  and  there  came  what  Germany  was  looking  for  and  the 
Provisional  Government  disappeared  from  the  face  of  the  earth ; 
then  the  Bolsheviki  came  on,  and,  true  to  their  principles  of 
international  socialism,  they  moved  forward  to  an  international 
peace. 

It  was  following  the  principles  of  International  Socialism, 
and  those  who  are  International  Socialists  and  live  up  to  their 
doctrine  you  can't  find  fault  with ;  but  Germany  knew  what  the 
International  Socialists  would  do  when  they  got  in  power. 

Now  comes  the  next  move  in  the  game,  and  there  comes  this 
international  condition  in  Russia.  These  Internationalists  with 
the  Bolsheviki  are  not  going  to  be  good  neighbors  with  Germany. 
What  is  the  next  move  with  Germany?  With  the  control  of  the 
Ukraine  as  a  possible  excuse,  she  moves  forward  into  Russia 
itself.  Now  watch  and  see  whether  Russia  will  be  ruled  by  a 
monarch  sitting  on  the  throne  of  Russia,  and  that  monarch  the 
wife  of  the  Czar,  a  German. 

Last  August  there  was  a  convention  at  Petrograd  of  the 
Thibetan  Lamas,  a  branch  of  the  Lamas  of  the  East,  everybody 
there  except  the  Grand  Lama,  himself.  What  were  these  men 
of  the  East,  these  Lamas,  doing  in  Petrograd  at  a  time  of  tur- 
moil and  revolution  and  war?  They  came  to  hold  their  con- 
ference in  Petrograd  in  order  to  get  some  light  on  the  Russian 
Revolution,  and  as  GeorgeofT  said,  "This  whole  spirit  has 
infected  even  our  own  Lamas.  They  are  not  willing  to  take  the 
word  of  our  Dalai-Lama  any  more.  They  must  have  their  own 
committee;  they  must  have  their  own  say  in  the  conduct  of  the 
church." 

That  meant  nothing  except  that  it  is  a  rather  extraordinary 
situation ;  but  it  had  this  significance,  that  you  and  I  must  keep  in 
mind  in  connection  with  the  present  situation  and  in  connection 
with  what  Germany  is  trying  to  do  in  Russia.  It  meant  this, 
that  the  influence  of  the  Russian  Revolution,  felt  as  it  is  even 
here  now  in  a  country  at  war,  the  Russian  Revolution  with  the 
radical  ideas  that  were  permeating  it,  had  spread  down  through 
Mongolia  and  through  China;  and,  if  the  world  is  to  be  kept 
safe  for  democracy,  you  have  got  to  keep  your  eyes  on  Russia 


328   ONE  HUNDRED  PER  CENT  AMERICAN 

and  on  China  as  well,  because  the  Chinese  Republic  is  in  the 
same  condition  of  dissolution  as  the  Russian  Republic. 

What  is  our  concern  at  the  present  time  with  this  German 
propaganda?  We  are  concerned  with  it  largely  from  our  mis- 
takes of  the  past,  and  I  think  we  are  beginning  to  correct  them. 
During  those  long  nine  months  during  which  the  German  propa- 
ganda was  defeating  an  army  of  over  ten  million  men,  when  the 
German  propaganda  was  completely  licking  an  army  of  ten  mil- 
lion men,  what  were  the  Allied  diplomats  doing  to  meet  this 
issue?  Are  we  so  dumb  and  clumsy  and  inefficient  that,  with 
our  wonderful  understanding  of  life,  that  we  sit  down  and  let 
a  situation  of  this  kind  develop  before  us,  with  the  Ambassadors 
of  Great  Britain,  of  France  and  of  Italy  all  doing  the  same 
thing  ? 

And  during  these  months  when  the  Revolution  was  appar- 
ently directing  itself  but  was  really  being  directed  by  the  German 
Government,  and  when  Korniloff  came  along  and  said,  "I 
will  discipline  this  army,"  was  there  any  attempt  being  made  to 
direct  the  Russian  Revolution  along  the  line  that  it  ought  to  go, 
except  from  Berlin?  Not  so  that  one  could  notice.  And  yet 
that  must  have  had  a  tremendous  interest  for  you  and  me  and 
the  American  people.  If  Russia  goes  back  to  the  Romanoffs, 
and  the  Romanoffs  are  controlled  from  Berlin,  it  won't  be  guard- 
ing the  East  by  the  head  of  the  Persian  Gulf  and  Bagdad;  it 
will  be  guarding  the  East  along  the  Trans-Siberian  Railway  and 
then  you  have  Japan  menaced,  and  you  have  Japan  meeting  the 
German  peril. 

We  are  interested  in  the  stabilizing  of  Russia  in  another 
direction,  because  Russia  to-day  is  a  tremendous  potentiality. 
It  is  a  country  almost  twice  as  large  as  ours.  As  you  cross  from 
one  end  of  Russia  to  the  other,  you  see  this  wonderful  country 
with  resources,  if  not  double,  at  least  nearly  so,  those  of  the 
United  States ;  with  people  only  30  per  cent,  educated,  but  a  peo- 
ple giving  them  an  art  which  equals  that  of  the  French  artists; 
a  music  better  than  the  German  music  so  widely  heralded;  a 
literature  which  for  its  virility  and  extent  equals  the  literature 
of  any  nation  of  the  present  time.  Just  think  what  will  happen  to 
Russia  when  those  70  per  cent,  of  the  Russians  get  even  an 
elementary  education !  Russia  will  then  have  an  influencee  on 
the  world  that  neither  you  nor  I  can  calculate.  The  Slavic  mind 
with  its  tremendous  potentiality  is  going  to  be  a  wonderful  fac- 
tor in  the  future. 

Get  the  facts  as  they  exist.  The  Russian  army  is  out  of  the 
fight.  It  will  not  come  back  again.  We  can  discount  that.  We 
can  show  an  unselfishness  which  neither  Great  Britain  nor  France 


THE  ELEMENTS  OF  THE  PEACE  PROBLEM    329 

has  shown  toward  a  republic  which  is  stabilizing  itself,  and  which 
is  doing  the  work  of  the  world,  because  the  present  anarchy 
cannot  last.  And  if  we  show  that  attitude  toward  Russia  from 
the  standpoint  of  our  diplomacy,  and  not  simply  the  attitude  of 
the  American  people  toward  Russia  now,  Russia  will  not  forget 
in  the  future  who  was  her  friend  in  the  time  of  her  tribulation. 
We  have  not  forgotten  what  France  did  for  us  in  our  days  of 
struggle. 

The  whole  situation  from  the  Russian  standpoint  is  such 
that  it  has  altered  the  whole  course  of  the  war.  Had  the  Russian 
army  stayed  in,  had  it  been  efficiently  directed,  had  discipline 
been  maintained  in  the  Russian  army — Haig  was  right,  Joffre 
was  right — certainly  this  year  would  have  been  the  last  year  of 
the  war  and  the  Kaiser  would  have  been  defeated ;  but  here 
you  have  this  whole  blockade  of  Germany  so  necessary  to  human 
life  in  Great  Britain,  so  necessary  to  the  finances  of  Great  Britain, 
practically  all  negatived  if  Prussia  can  get  the  wheat  out  of  the 
Volga  Region.  But  if  the  Allied  countries  are  wise,  if  we  can 
meet  the  German  propaganda,  if  we  show  some  statecraft  in 
handling  the  Russian  situation,  it  is  is  a  long  time  between  now 
and  next  September  or  October  when  the  harvest  comes  in,  and 
it  is  quite  possible  we  may  be  able  to  get  to  rights,  and  Germany 
may  have  on  her  hands  something  which  she  did  not  calculate 
for  in  the  beginning. 

The  one  deep  feeling  that  every  man  who  comes  out  of 
Europe  with  is  not  the  feeling  that  peace  is  near,  that  peace 
is  going  to  be  here  before  midsummer  or  by  September,  but 
that  it  is  an  uncertain  quantity,  that  if  you  are  going  to  have 
a  peace  that  is  going  to  be  lasting,  that  is  going  to  mean  any- 
thing, a  peace  in  which  the  Allied  diplomats  are  not  going  to 
be  licked  across  the  table  even  if  Germany  is  not  licked  in  the 
field,  then  it  is  going  to  be  a  long  war.  And  the  one  thing  that 
you  have  got  to  give  credit  to  Washington  for  in  its  recent  atti- 
tude towards  this  question  is  something  which  is  not  recognized 
generally  in  America,  something  which  was  not  recognized  in  the 
chancelleries  of  Europe,  and  that  is  that  Germany  had  calculated 
on  winning  the  war  at  the  peace  table,  on  sitting  down  and  say- 
ing, as  their  replies  to  these  various  state  documents  that  have 
been  presented  to  them,  indicate,  that  the  question  of  Alsace- 
Lorraine  will  be  settled,  but  it  is  a  personal  matter  between 
Germany  and  France ;  that  they  will  discuss  with  Great  Britain 
the  reconstruction  of  Belgium,  the  protection  of  the  head  of  the 
Persian  Gulf  and  the  reconstruction  of  the  Balkans;  that  at 
the  peace  table  they  would  discuss  with  the  United  States  the 
question  of  the  freedom  of  the  seas,  and  with  Italy  the  question 


330   ONE  HUNDRED  PER  CENT  AMERICAN 

of  the  Trentino.  Just  as  soon  as  you  allow  a  situation  of  that 
kind  to  develop,  the  one  principle  recently  enunciated  from  Wash- 
ington makes  it  perfectly  clear  that  it  does  not  make  any  difference 
whether  the  Bolsheviki  make  a  peace  with  Germany  or  not;  it 
does  not  make  a  bit  of  difference  whether  Turkey  or  Bulgaria 
make  a  separate  treaty  of  peace  with  Greece;  when  a  treaty  of 
peace  comes  to  be  signed,  it  will  be  a  question  of  what  the  rest  of 
the  world  thinks  of  Germany  and  Austria. 

The  rest  of  the  world  is  going  to  tell  Germany  that  for  the 
future  no  one  nation  can  have  the  right  or  ever  be  permitted  to 
have  the  power  to  disturb  the  peace  of  the  world  in  such  a  way 
as  to  create  such  a  condition  of  affairs  as  has  existed  for  the 
last  three  years.  That  must  come  and  can  only  come  from  a  con- 
cert of  the  Powers,  from  a  determination  of  the  different  Powers 
to  decide  the  question  of  what  peace  must  be  and  what  the  peace 
demands  are  and  must  be ;  and  there  must  be  no  variation  as  to 
what  London  or  Paris  or  Rome  thinks.  There  must  be  a  unity 
of  ideas  of  what  the  whole  world  thinks  of  what  Germany  was, 
what  Germany  is,  and  what  Germany  has  done,  during  the  period 
of  this  war. 


THREE:    BY  REVEREND  HOWARD  DUFFIELD,  D.D. 

Captain  of  the  pth  Coast  Artillery,  U.S.A. 

There  were  a  great  many  reasons  why  I  was  glad  to 
accept  an  invitation  to  come  here.  I  like  to  get  into  a 
crowd  of  men  who  hold  Republican  principles ;  never  more  so 
than  at  this  time.  I  love  to  come  up  to  this  old  Republican  Club 
where  I  have  so  many  friends  and  where  I  have  had  so  many 
good  times;  but  I  am  free  to  say  that  the  thing  that  led  me  to 
accept  the  invitation  was  that  Mr.  Beck  was  going  to  speak  here 
this  afternoon,  and  I  think  after  you  have  listened  to  him  to-day 
you  can  appreciate  my  feelings  in  this  respect ;  but  he  laid  down 
the  dictum  that  there  has  been  too  much  talking  in  connection 
with  the  war,  and  I  don't  want  to  prove  that  his  contention  is 
true  by  a  terrible  example  right  here ;  but,  as  a  matter  of  fact, 
that  is  just  about  what  I  was  going  to  say.  I  am  simply  going 
to  do  what  any  one  can  do  under  these  circumstances,  and  say 
"Amen,"  a  hearty  "Amen"  to  what  we  have  heard.  I  tell  you, 
the  Allied  cause  is  suffering  to-day  from  nothing  so  much  as 
from  the  intemperance  of  speech.  It  is  the  talk  in  the  capitals 
of  the  world  that  is  doing  more  than  the  mud  in  Flanders  to 
hold  back  the  Allied  offensive.    It  is  the  talk  of  peace  as  though 


THE  ELEMENTS  OF  THE  PEACE  PROBLEM    331 

it  were  a  possibility  before  it  had  been  settled  at  the  point  of  the 
bayonet,  as  though  it  could  come  in  any  other  way  than  by  the 
power  of  the  sword,  that  blunts  the  fighting  courage  of  the  men, 
that  wet-blankets  their  powder  and  takes  the  edge  off  of  their 
sword;  and,  mind  you,  this  talk  of  peace  always  originates  in 
Germany.  There  is  where  it  starts.  It  is  Germany  who  says, 
"Let  us  talk  about  peace,"  and  then  calmly  rolls  her  tongue  in 
her  cheek  and  sits  mum,  while  in  every  Allied  capital  the  leaders 
of  warfare  rise  in  succession  and  begin  to  formulate  their  peace 
aims.  They  have  Been  formulated  over  and  over  gain  in  every 
one  of  the  Allied  countries;  but,  gentlemen,  Germany  has  sat 
mum;  she  has  played  the  game  to  the  limit.  She  has  never  told 
the  world  and  she  does  not  propose  to  tell  the  world  what 
her  peace  aims  are.  Von  Herding  and  Czernin  will  keep  the 
shuttle-cocks  flying,  and  they  will  invite  all  the  other  legislators 
in  the  world  to  join  in  this  beautiful  game  of  battledore; 
but  they  don't  propose  for  one  minute  to  announce  their  peace 
aims. 

Why  is  it  that  the  leaders  of  men  that  are  fighting,  when  the 
question  of  economic  destiny  is  at  stake,  continually  repeat  and 
repeat  in  phrases  and  paragraphs  and  documents  and  messages 
and  letters  the  peace  aims  of  the  world  ?  There  is  only  one  aim 
and  that  is,  "Can  the  Kaiser."  There  is  a  formula.  It  is  simple ; 
it  is  picturesque ;  it  is  expressive ;  it  covers  the  whole  ground ; 
nobody  has  any  misunderstanding  as  to  what  it  means.  In  all 
the  languages  that  are  spoken  along  the  Allied  lines,  "Can  the 
Kaiser"  can  be  understood. 

Those  disgusting  and  intolerable  things  for  which  he  stands 
must  be  hermetically  sealed  and  put  in  the  closet  of  oblivion,  to 
stay  there  while  the  world  lasts. 

Don't  forget  that  this  talk  of  peace  is  "made  in  Germany" 
and  that  it  spells  victory  to  Germany,  and  that  peace — 
get  the  German  standpoint  on  this  question — peace,  from  the 
German  conception  of  it  is  a  military  maneuver;  peace  is  a  part 
of  her  war  campaign  that  she  is  fighting.  It  is  as  distinctly  a 
part  of  her  military  procedure  as  an  artillery  barrage.  When 
she  says  "Let  us  talk  peace,"  I  say  that  is  as  distinctly  a  military 
order  from  Berlin  as  the  order  given  to  the  commander  to  make 
a  barrage  behind  which  his  army  may  advance.  It  is  to  clear 
obstructions  for  her  arms;  for  peace  spells  victory,  and  don't 
forget  it. 

Every  one  in  Germany,  from  the  Kaiser  down  to  the  camp 
follower,  wants  peace.  For,  look  at  it;  Germany  holds  to-day 
all  she  set  out  to  get.  She  has  diverted  the  eyes  of  the  world 
from  the  critical  issue  of  this  campaign.    Germany  has  kept  the 


332   ONE  HUNDRED  PER  CENT  AMERICAN 

eyes  of  the  world  fixed  on  the  western  front,  while  she  lusted 
for  the  Orient.  That  offensive  may  never  take  place  on  the 
western  front,  if  she  can  keep  the  Allied  line  there  while  she 
sweeps  over  the  Oriental  world  with  the  strength  of  her  arms. 
She  started  out  with  a  definite  purpose :  "Berlin  to  Bagdad." 
Look  at  your  maps.  She  has  the  freedom  of  the  Baltic.  At  this 
hour  it  is  but  a  German  lake.  There  are  no  Central  Empires — 
don't  deceive  yourselves — there  are  no  Central  Empires.  There 
is  one  imperial  power  that  sweeps  from  the  shores  of  the  Baltic 
to  the  Dardanelles;  Austria-Hungary  is  but  the  vassal  of  Ger- 
many. She  could  not  make  peace  if  she  wanted  to  ;  she  must  fight 
if  Germany  says  so.  If  the  Kaiser  takes  snuff  the  Emperor  of 
Austria  sneezes. 

Rumania-Bulgaria  is  merely  a  little  empire;  Turkey  simply 
does  Germany's  dirty  work,  even  though  it  be  as  dirty  and 
bloody  as  the  removing  of  Armenia  from  Germany's  path  of 
empire.  The  Armenian  massacre  was  planned  in  Germany.  The 
men  that  carried  it  out  from  Berlin  were  paid  from  the  ex- 
chequers of  Germany.  It  was  directed  by  German  intelligence, 
because  Armenia  lay  in  Germany's  path  of  empire. 

To-day  Germany  controls  from  the  Baltic  clear  through  into 
Asia  Minor;  Suez  within  arm's  reach;  Egypt,  the  portal  of 
Africa,  just  a  stone's  throw  from  her  palace  at  Constantinople. 
And  suddenly  has  come  the  Russian  collapse,  and  the 
cry  is  "Change!  Change!"  Let  the  world  awake;  let  men 
rouse  themselves  from  their  stupid  indifference  to  this  matter. 
The  destiny  of  generations  hangs  trembling  in  the  balance.  It 
is  no  longer  from  "Berlin  to  Bagdad;"  it  is  from  "Prussia  to 
the  Pacific."    More  than  she  dreamed  of  lies  before  her. 

And  the  future  is  to-day  in  shadow,  and  as  Mr.  Beck  says, 
how  did  it  come  about?  In  simple  language,  Russia  was 
licked  by  piffle-piffle,  absolutely.  Mind  you,  the  pacifists  of 
Russia  talked  until  they  have  handed  over  Russia  to  an  empire 
that  knows  nothing  of  peace  except  as  a  war  measure.  The  So- 
cialists of  Russia  talked  until  they  have  handed  over  Russia  to  an 
empire  that  knows  nothing  of  the  people  except  as  tax-payers 
and  cannon-fodder.  The  Revolutionists,  the  anarchists  of  Russia 
talked  until  they  have  handed  over  the  freedom  of  Russia  into  a 
nation  who  is  seeking,  by  the  power  of  the  sword,  to  rivet  her 
tyranny  upon  the  entire  world. 

Talk  when  such  a  war  is  on !  It  is  worse  than  useless ;  it  is 
Wicked.  It  costs  life;  it  costs  blood;  it  imperils  the  future. 
Our  children  after  us  will  live  in  a  dark,  sad  world  unless  we 
rise  to  make  it  strong,  pure,  sweet  and  free  for  them. 

Talk!    You  could  as  easily  talk  with  Germany  and  hope  to 


THE  ELEMENTS  OF  THE  PEACE  PROBLEM    333 

change  the  course  of  her  arms  as  you  could  hope  to  tame  a  wild 
bull  by  singing  "I  Want  to  be  an  Angel." 

It  was  William  the  Silent  that  armed  those  Dutch 
burghers  who  rolled  back  the  tides  of  Spanish  domination  as  the 
dikes  of  Holland  roll  back  the  sea.  It  was  Grant,  the  reticent, 
who  rolled  back  the  forces  of  the  enemies  to  our  freedom  at 
Appomattox ;  and  it  is  the  men  of  silence  who  act,  who  translate 
the  emotions  of  nations  into  deeds,  who  are  needed  for  this  great 
hour.  There  will  come  no  peace  into  this  world — mind  you,  the 
war  may  stop,  but  the  war  won't  end.  There  is  a  difference — > 
and  no  peace  will  ever  come  into  this  world,  the  white  dove  of 
peace  will  not  rest  here,  until  the  black  war  eagles  of  the  Haps- 
burgs  and  the  Hohenzollerns  have  had  their  necks  wrung. 

Mr.  Beck  quoted  that  wonderful  passage  of  the  President, 
and  none  could  put  it  more  strongly  in  which  he  showed  the 
absolutely  insuperable  obstacle  to  peace  because  Germany 
lacks  honor  and  can't  give  a  guaranteed  covenant.  Let  me  sug- 
gest another  reason  why  there  is  an  obstacle  to  peace ;  that  no 
self-respecting  nation  can  sit  down  to  the  council  board  with  a 
nation  that  outlaws  the  laws.  It  is  not  a  question  as  to  whether 
they  would  keep  their  word  if  you  and  I  agreed  to  peace.  We 
can't  consort  with  them  on  equal  terms,  for  their  ideas  of  morals 
are  different  from  ours.  I  have  been  very  much  impressed  by 
the  impression  that  has  been  made  on  the  men  abroad  by  the 
deportation  of  the  men  of  Belgium.  I  have  been  struck  by  the 
fact  that  Van  Dyke  of  Holland  and  Brand  Whitlock  of  Belgium 
and  Gerard  of  Germany  have  not  insisted  or  laid  such  emphasis 
upon  those  brutalities  that  have  affected  us,  all  those  spectacular 
outrages  that  have  made  our  blood  tingle ;  but  every  one  of  them 
has  spoken  with  lowered  breath  of  the  deportation  of  Belgian 
men.  I  never  knew  just  why  until  I  heard  from  Vernon  Kelley 
who  had  charge  of  the  provisioning  of  Belgium  in  connection 
with  Mr.  Hoover,  and  he  told  a  story  something  like  this: 

He  saw  that  deportation  take  place  over  and  over  again,  and 
he  was  sorry  his  eyes  had  ever  had  to  witness  it.  He  said  you 
would  see  there  a  company  of  men  as  well  bred,  as  well  educated, 
as  home-loving,  as  good  citizens,  as  any  of  us  who  are  gathered 
here.  A  quota  is  called  from  each  town;  a  hundred  from  that 
hamlet,  a  thousand  from  that  larger  city.  They  are  boarded  on 
a  cattle  train ;  a  surgeon  inspects  them  as  rapidly  as  he  can. 
These  men  are  inspected  by  the  surgeon  and  only  those  are 
taken  that  are  regarded  in  the  rapid  inspection  as  fit.  They  are 
offered  a  chance  to  sign  a  paper  which  is  presented  to  every  one, 
which  is  a  promise  from  Germany — significantly,  it  is  a  "scrap 
of  paper" — and  they  know  just  how  to  value  Germany's  "scraps 


334<       ONE  HUNDRED  PER  CENT  AMERICAN 

of  paper" — but  the  paper  contains  fair  promises.  It  offers  them 
money  if  they  will  sign ;  it  offers  care  for  their  friends,  all  sorts 
of  beguiling  things  if  they  will  sign  that  paper  that  they  have 
voluntarily  entered  into  the  service  of  Germany.  Not  one  will 
sign  it.  And,  with  the  German  bayonets  at  their  back  and  Ger- 
man soldiers  ready  to  shoot  at  command,  those  Belgians  have 
gone  off  in  cattle  cars  again  and  again,  singing  the  Belgian  Na- 
tional Anthem. 

And  then,  in  Germany,  they  are  taken  to  the  munition  fac- 
tories to  make  munitions  to  be  used  against  their  own  friends, 
and  they  refuse.  Then  they  are  taken  out  into  the  open  and  ex- 
posed in  such  prison  camps  as  McCarthy  has  spoken  of;  they 
are  exposed  to  the  weather ;  they  are  starved ;  they  are  not  cared 
for  in  disease;  until  they  become  so  useless  to  Germany  that 
they  are  sent  back ;  "and  then,"  said  Mr.  Whitlock,  "I  stood  and 
received  a  trainful  of  these  deported  men  that  had  been  passed 
by  the  surgeon  as  fit  for  work  in  efficient  Germany,  and  from  that 
train,"  he  said,  "from  those  cars,  there  came  down  a  crowd  of 
ghosts.  They  had  not  had  food  for  forty-eight  hours.  We  had 
bread  for  them.  We  put  a  loaf  of  bread  in  a  man's  hands  and 
he  couldn't  hold  it.  We  broke  off  pieces  of  bread  and  gave  to 
another  man,  and  they  dropped  through  his  emaciated  and  trem- 
bling fingers,  and  the  man  simply  sank  in  a  heap  on  the  ground 
and  ate  up  the  bread  like  a  dog.  And  there  was  one  poor  fellow 
that  was  almost  gone.  We  tried  to  fold  his  hands  over  a  little 
piece  of  bread,  that  he  might  have  something  to  eat,  and  in  his 
fevered  delirium  he  kept  saying  'I  won't  sign;  I  won't  sign,' 
and  the  man  died  saying  'I  won't  sign.'  " 

Now,  I  say  it  is  impossible  for  any  nation  with  self-respect 
to  sit  in  the  council  chamber  and  discuss  terms  of  peace  with  a 
nation  so  dehumanized  and  so  brutalized  as  the  German  nation 
under  the  direction  of  its  military  power.  There  is  no  peace 
without  victory ;  there  is  no  peace  without  penalty.  Mr.  Lincoln 
had  the  right  idea  in  these  matters,  and  he  once  said,  "We  ac- 
cepted this  war  for  a  worthy  object,  and  the  war  will  end  when 
that  object  is  attained,  and,  under  God,  I  hope  it  will  not  end 
until  that  time."  And  Mr.  Lincoln  knew  not  only  about 
the  ending  of  wars,  but  about  the  beginning  of  them.  Do 
you  realize  it  is  at  his  call  that  we  are  in  this  war  ?  It  is  in  an- 
swer to  the  call  of  that  voice  that  death  can  never  still  into 
silence  that  America  has  unsheathed  the  sword  and  beaten  the 
long  roll  for  her  sons  to  fall  into  the  battleline;  it  is  the  voice 
that  comes  from  Gettysburg  that  waked  up  this  great  people  for 
whom  he  died.  Those  sentences  of  his  familiar  speech  are  the 
alphabet  of  our  Americanism,  and  the  words  that  he  then  uttered 


THE  ELEMENTS  OF  THE  PEACE  PROBLEM    335 

ring  like  a  clarion  call  in  our  ears  to-day  and  set  our  patriotic 
blood  on  fire. 

Mark  the  wonderful  application  to  this  time : 

"Four  score  and  seven  years  ago,  our  fathers  brought  forth 
on  this  continent  a  nation  conceived  in  liberty  and  dedicated  to 
the  proposition  that  all  men  are  created  equal.  Now  we  are  en- 
gaged in  a  great  war,  testing  whether  that  nation  or  any  nation, 
so  conceived  and  so  dedicated,  can  long  endure." 

It  was  with  such  burning  words  that  belong  to  this  present 
moment  as  well  as  to  the  half-century  ago,  that  the  saviour  of 
our  country  began,  and  then  as  thought  began  to  rise  in 
his  capacious  soul,  the  horizons  that  bound  the  vision  of 
lesser  men  seem  to  recede,  and  with  the  large  outlook  of  a  man 
inspired  of  God,  he  swept  with  his  gaze  the  oncoming  years  and 
he  read  their  message,  and  with  almost  prophetic  ecstasy,  he 
closed  that  speech  with  the  phrases  that  have  burned  themselves 
into  the  American  heart,  that 

"government  of  the  people,  for  the  people  and  by  the  people, 
shall  not  perish" — 

Now  notice,  he  did  not  say  "from  these  States,"  he  did  not  sa^ 
"from  these  Americas,"  he  did  not  say  "from  this  western,  this 
new  world" ;  but,  as  though  he  saw  and  heard  what  we,  we  men 
here,  and  of  which  we,  his  descendants,  are  a  part,  he  said, 

"government  for  the  people,  of  the  people  and  by  the  people, 
shall  not  perish  from  the  earth" — 

the  earth! 

And,  as  in  that  solemn  time  of  the  Civil  War,  the  gathering 
of  the  youth  and  strength  of  America  in  camps,  in  training 
schools,  in  cantonments,  in  crowded  transports  along  the  battle 
line,  is  just  saying  over  again  what  men  said  then,  "We  are  com- 
ing, we  are  coming,  Father  Abraham,  millions  on  millions  strong ; 
it  shall  not  perish,  it  shall  not  perish,  from  the  earth!' 


TENTH   DISCUSSION 

MARCH    NINTH,    1918 
THE  WOMEN  OF    1918 


TfiE  WOMEN  OF  1918 


ONE:     BY  SERGEANT  RUTH  FARNAM 

Serbian  Cavalry. 

It  is  very  hard  for  me  to  speak,  because  I  am  only  quite  a  new 
soldier.  They  made  me  one  about  a  year  ago  and  I  did  not  go 
out  intending  to  fight  because  that  does  not  seem  to  be  a  woman's 
job.  I  never  did  want  to  fight,  because,  thank  God,  we  Ameri- 
can women  have  our  men  to  fight  for  us ;  but  I  do  feel  the  honor 
of  wearing  a  uniform  that  has  been  made  sacred  by  such  sacri- 
fice, such  devotion  and  such  patriotism  as  the  Serbians  have 
shown. 

I  suppose  most  of  us  know  as  little  about  Serbia  as  I  did  the 
first  time  I  went  there.  I  found  myself  there  accidently  in  the 
war  with  Turkey,  and  then  I  learned  much  about  the  Serbians. 
Then  I  went  out  again  during  the  war  with  Bulgaria,  and  al- 
though I  had  never  seen  blood  before,  although  I  had  never  been 
with  sick  people,  I  was  put  in  the  operating  room  of  a  hospital 
to  wait  on  a  surgeon  while  he  performed  major  operations,  where 
we  had  very  few  of  the  necessaries,  no  anaesthetics  and  no  money 
with  which  to  buy  them.  I  have  begged  for  many  things  for 
Serbia,  and  among  those  things  I  have  begged  for  money  to 
buy  tobacco.  I  sometimes  had  to  hold  men  in  my  arms  while 
the  surgeon  operated  on  them,  with  nothing  to  deaden  their  pain 
at  all.  Yet  I  have  had  people  say,  "Oh,  no;  I  will  give  money 
for  clothing,  drugs  and  food,  but  not  for  tobacco ;  I  don't  believe 
in  it;  tobacco  is  bad  for  men."  But  I  want  to  tell  you 
if  you  had  seen  what  I  have  seen  of  what  tobacco 
means  to  men  out  there,  what  it  is  going  to  mean  to  our  own 
boys  in  the  hospitals,  whether  you  approve  of  tobacco  for  men 
and  boys  or  not,  I  assure  you,  you  would  give  the  last  drop  of 
your  heart's  blood  to  buy  tobacco  for  those  boys,  if  they  want  it, 
whatever  your  ideas  on  the  subject  may  be. 

People  say  very  often,  "The  Serbians  are  quarrelsome  people ; 
they  are  always  fighting  there  in  the  Balkans,  and  they  always 
will  be."  Well,  I  presume  you  know  that  for  a  great  many  years 
Serbia  has  been  oppressed  by  Austria  and  Germany,  always  Ger- 
many behind  Austria  egging  her  on  to  play  on  the  historic  ani- 

339 


340   ONE  HUNDRED  PER  CENT  AMERICAN 

mosities  in  the  Balkans  among  her  peoples  there.  Of  course, 
Serbia  will  fight;  she  always  will  fight  until  she  gets  back  her 
own.  You  know  that  Austria  has  on  one  pretext  or  another, 
taken  from  her  Dalmatia,  Bosnia,  Herzegovina  and  other  terri- 
tory— all  the  richest  provinces  of  Serbia  have  been  simply  stolen 
from  her.  Why,  if  anybody  took  from  us  Texas,  Florida,  Cali- 
fornia or  Maine  I  think  we  would  fight  to  the  very  end  to  get 
them  back,  because  they  are  our  own,  they  are  part  of  our  coun- 
try. Of  course,  Serbia  will  fight  for  that  which  is  hers.  Nobody 
can  blame  her  for  that. 

They  say  "The  Serbians  are  a  dirty  people,  primitive,  igno- 
rant." For  500  years  the  Serbians  have  lain  under  the  heel  of 
Turkey,  were  not  allowed  liberty  in  any  way  except  as  regards 
their  church.  That  survived.  Their  freedom  and  their  schools 
were  taken  from  them  and  yet  they  kept  their  blood  pure.  They 
never  intermingled  or  intermarried  with  their  conquerors,  which 
is  a  remarkable  thing.  And  if  we,  here  in  America,  with  our 
mixed  blood,  would  unite  and  fight  if  anybody  robbed  us  of  our 
territory,  how  much  more  would  those  people  fight  for  the  land 
of  their  fathers.    I  think  it  is  a  very  admirable  thing. 

There  is  another  thing  which  we  in  America  do  not  quite 
understand;  that  we  are  safe  and  free  to-day  because  of  what 
Serbia  has  done.  You  know  it  is  a  good  many  years  ago  since 
Bismarck  said  "America  is  a  fine,  fat  hog,  and  when  we  are 
ready  we  will  stick  it."  It  is  not  so  long  ago  that  Germany 
openly  declared  that  her  idea  is  the  domination  of  the  world, 
and  what  country  is  the  most  valuable  to  Germany?  America. 
Germany  wants  South  America,  too,  but  while  the  United  States 
stands  upon  her  Monroe  Doctrine  Germany  cannot  get  a  free 
hand  there.  She  intended  and  she  still  means,  if  she  can,  of 
course — she  is  beginning  to  realize  that  she  cannot — she  intended 
to  come  down  through  the  Balkans,  reap  the  fruits  of  her  plots 
in  India  and  Egypt  and  strike  on  our  Western  coast.  Because 
of  the  British  navy  she  could  not  get  to  our  Eastern  coast.  With 
the  aid  of  Mexico  she  meant  to  drive  into  our  land  up  the 
valley  of  the  Mississippi,  thus  cutting  off  the  food  supply  of  the 
West  from  the  Eastern  States — cutting  off  the  arms  and  muni- 
tions of  the  East  from  the  West  and  then  we  should  have  been 
helpless. 

But  Belgium  held  the  gates  on  the  West  and  Serbia  on  the 
East — as  she  has  always  done.  These  two  little  countries,  two 
of  the  smallest  countries  on  the  globe,  foiled  great,  efficient 
Germany.  For  Honor's  sake  they  stood  there;  they  held  the 
gates  and  said,  for  Honor's  sake,  "They  shall  not  pass." 

Why,  Austria  offered  peace  to  Serbia  if  she  would  desert  the 


THE  WOMEN  OF  1918  341 

Allies  and  let  the  armies  of  the  Central  Empires  pass  down  the 
Valley  of  the  Morava.  They  said,  "We  will  show  no  mercy 
unless  you  do  it."  Serbia  had  been  invaded  before  many  times, 
and  she  knew  what  it  meant ;  she  knew  it  meant  devastated  terri- 
tory, murdered  citizens,  outraged  women,  crucified  children, 
tortures  unspeakable — many  of  the  things  that  I  have  seen  with 
my  own  eyes.  Serbia  knew  what  invasion  meant  and  yet  Mr. 
Pashitch,  the  Serbian  Prime  Minister,  said :  "It  is  better  to  die  in 
beauty  than  to  live  in  shame.    We  fight !" 

Serbia  appealed  to  the  Allies.  She  said  to  them,  "You  will 
never  get  through  to  the  Dardanelles;  you  will  never  arrive  at 
Constantinople  that  way.  Let  us  strike  Bulgaria  before  she  is 
ready  to  attack  us  and  we  will  guarantee  that  in  a  very  short  time 
you  will  be  in  Constantinople  overland.  Send  troops  to  us  and  we 
will  see  that  you  get  there."  And  the  Allies  did  not  understand. 
They  said,  "Bulgaria  will  never  go  against  Russia.  Bulgaria 
does  not  intend  to  do  anything  in  this  war.  You  dream."  Serbia 
replied,  "We  know  that  Bulgaria  wants  only  vengeance  on  us. 
She  is  being  egged  on  by  the  Central  Powers  and  is  only  waiting 
the  moment  to  strike."  And  the  Allies  replied,  "You  imagine  it. 
It  is  not  so.  We  cannot  send  you  troops  from  the  Dardanelles 
because  we  could  not  get  the  men  away  from  there  alive."  To 
this  Serbia  answered,  "We  are  then  dead  men,  but  we  will  fight 
to  the  end." 

People  often  say  to  me,  "I  suppose  Serbia  has  suffered  almost 
as  much  as  Belguim."  Why,  it  is  not  that  Belgium  has  not  suf- 
fered enough ;  but  you  must  remember  that  if  the  people  of  Bel- 
gium could  just  get  to  their  borders  they  could  go  into  France 
or  Holland  or  England  and  be  cared  for.  Look  at  the  map  and 
you  will  see  that  Serbia  had  no  such  hope.  On  the  north,  Aus- 
tria; on  the  east,  Bulgaria;  on  the  west,  Albania — just  as  poor, 
just  as  starved  as  Serbia  was — and  that  splendid  Serbian  army 
was  obliged  to  withdraw.  Surrounded  on  three  sides,  they  went 
out  through  a  narrow  neck  of  land  into  exile.  Seventy  thousand 
soldiers  left  their  bones  on  that  seventeen  days'  march  over  the 
Albanian  mountains.  They  retreated  with  their  faces  to  the  foe, 
fighting  every  inch  of  the  way.  The  women  and  old  men  and 
children,  went  out  before  the  remembered  horrors  of  war.  They 
fled  along  those  icy  roads  in  November,  with  only  the  clothing 
they  wore  on  their  backs  and  the  bread  they  could  carry  in  their 
hands,  because  all  the  country  was  so  poor ;  and  behind  them,  on 
every  road  in  Serbia,  the  old  men  and  boys  and  badly  wounded 
soldiers  stood  in  little  groups  and  fought  until  the  weapons 
dropped  from  their  hands,  until  they  fell  at  last  on  the  blood- 
soaked  soil  of  Serbia,  and  still  they  fought  as  the  enemy  marched 


342       ONE  HUNDRED  PER  CENT  AMERICAN 

over  them,  grasping  him  by  the  feet,  and  dragging  him  down 
and  strangling  him  with  the  last  ounce  of  strength  in  their  dying 
hands,  to  give  the  refugees  time  to  get  a  little  further  away. 

Those  poor  ones  would  have  found  death  very  sweet,  could 
they  have  taken  it,  particularly  the  women,  because  so  many  of 
the  little  children  died — whole  families  of  them.  One  after 
another  the  mothers  laid  the  little  wasted  bodies  down  by  the 
roadside  and  were  obliged  to  leave  them  to  the  famished  dogs 
that  roamed  the  country.  Ladies,  you  know  how  easy  it  would 
have  been  for  these  poor  mothers  to  have  just  lain  down  and 
died.  But  they  were  of  sterner  stock;  they  were  soldiers  just  as 
much  as  the  men ;  they  were  fighting  hunger,  cold  and  utter  de- 
spair, but  clearly  they  knew  these  three  things — three  words — 
Love,  Duty  and  Home.  It  was  their  duty  to  keep  the  breath  of 
life  in  themselves  as  long  as  they  could,  so  that  if  by  some  miracle 
they  were  saved  they  might  come  home  again  and  raise  up  other 
children  to  help  restore  the  country  of  their  devotion.  At  last 
all  too  many,  unable  to  go  further,  sat  down  by  the  roadside, 
and,  still,  blaming  none,  gave  up  their  brave  spirits. 

All  the  roads  out  of  Serbia,  every  one  of  those  mountain 
passes  into  Albania,  are  lined  with  the  heroic  bones  of  those  poor 
women  who  died  for  their  country  just  as  much  as  the  soldiers 
did.  And  when  finally  the  remaining  refugees  reached  the  sea- 
shore, it  was  weeks  before  help  came,  and  they  died  there  in 
thousands,  uncomplaining  to  the  end. 

I  have  been  in  Serbia  in  three  wars,  and  in  all  that  time,  in 
which  I  have  had  men  and  women  and  little  children  die  in  my 
arms  of  disease,  wounds  and  starvation,  I  have  never  yet  heard 
one  Serbian  beg.  The  thing  that  came  nearest  to  it  was  last  year, 
just  behind  the  battle  lines.  I  was  going  through  a  tent  hospital 
which  had  just  been  established  out  there.  It  was  set  up  first 
on  the  Island  of  Corsica  for  the  refugees,  and  when  it  was 
no  longer  needed  there,  it  was  moved  up  into  Macedonia.  It 
had  been  founded  by  money  collected  in  this  country  by  Miss 
Burke  and  myself  a  few  months  before.  At  the  door  of  one  of 
the  wards — these  tent  wards — a  man  lay  dying,  and  as  I  came 
through  with  a  big  basket  of  cigarettes  (I  had  bought  up  the  stock 
of  a  tobacconist  down  the  road)  this  dying  man  had  just  enough 
strength  left  to  say  "Cigarette."  I  put  it  in  his  mouth,  lighted 
it,  he  drew  one  deep  breath  into  his  lungs  and  was  dead — happy 
because  he  had  got  a  cigarette. 

That  same  day  I  passed  a  little  group  of  refugees.  These 
people  had  been  taken  care  of  in  Macedonia  and  were  trying 
to  get  back,  just  to  set  their  feet  again  on  the  beloved  soil  of 
Serbia.     I  saw  them  sitting  by  the  roadside  and  with  them  a 


THE  WOMEN  OF  1918  343 

little  girl  about  nine  years  of  age.  She  was  the  most  pitiful 
sight,  just  bones  with  yellowish  skin  drawn  sharply  over  them. 
She  smiled,  or  seemed  to,  as  we  passed.  I  had  gone  but  a  little 
distance  when  it  occurred  to  me  that  there  must  be  something  I 
could  do,  so  I  stopped  the  car  and  went  back.  It  was  not  five 
minutes  since  I  had  first  seen  the  child.  I  spoke  to  her  now  and 
she  did  not  answer.  I  picked  her  up  from  the  ground  and  she 
was  dead — just  in  those  few  minutes.  I  said  to  the  woman 
sitting  by,  "What  was  it?"  She  looked  at  me  and  said,  "She 
was  my  child  and  she  had  great  hunger."  That  was  on  the  main 
road,  over  which  the  soldiers  were  passing  through  to  the  Front 
every  day. 

Every  man  had  bread,  and  yet  those  people  died  of  starvation. 
They  would  not  and  they  could  not  ask  for  that  bread  which 
should  help  these  men  to  fight  again  for  their  loved  country. 
That  is  the  spirit  of  the  people  of  Serbia.  You  cannot  kill  a 
spirit  like  that. 

I  want  to  tell  you  how  I  became  a  soldier.  I  want  to  talk 
about  myself !  My  mother  did  not  raise  her  girl  to  be  a  soldier, 
but  the  Serbian  Relief  Committee  of  America,  with  which  I  am 
associated,  found  that  it  would  be  necessary  for  some  one  to 
investigate  the  administration  of  the  funds  which  had  been  col- 
lected in  America  and  to  learn  what  it  would  be  advisable  for  us 
to  concentrate  on  in  the  future.  So  I  volunteered  to  go.  It  was 
a  wonderful  journey.  I  wish  I  had  time  to  tell  you  about  it. 
I  went  through  places  where  it  was  most  difficult  to  travel. 
Through  every  friendly  belligerent  country  of  Europe.  I  got 
through  with  no  delays  at  all,  just  an  American  woman  traveling 
on  an  errand  of  mercy,  that  was  my  passport.  Of  course,  I  had 
passports,  letters  and  other  credentials,  too,  but  that  is  why  they 
let  me  go  through.  Everywhere,  our  Ministers,  our  Consuls  said, 
"They  won't  let  you  go  further,"  and  yet  in  every  country  they 
let  me  go  with  no  delay  at  all. 

I  arrived  in  Greece  to  find  that  Mr.  Venizelos  had  tired  of  the 
vacillations  of  King  Constantine.  When  I  got  to  Athens  I  re- 
ceived a  message  that  the  Queen  would  be  pleased  to  receive 
me.  I  remembered  that  she  was  the  sister  of  the  Kaiser,  and 
sent  a  reply  saying  that  I  had  a  bad  cold  and  would  not  be  able 
to  go  since  it  might  be  influenza.  The  messenger  who  was  an 
old  friend  of  mine,  just  winked,  and  said,  "I  understand,"  and 
I  did  not  go. 

The  crowd  had  been  stoning  the  British  and  French  Lega- 
tions. Then  they  came  around  to  the  American  Legation  and 
made  a  great  demonstration.  The  Greeks  were  shouting,  "Amer- 
ica is  sorry  for  us.    America  is  going  to  send  her  fleet  to  protect 


344   ONE  HUNDRED  PER  CENT  AMERICAN 

us  from  the  Allies,"  and  poor  Doctor  Droppers,  our  Minister, 
had  to  go  out  on  the  balcony  and  make  a  speech.  He  knew  that 
if  he  said  America  would  not  send  her  fleet  the  mob  would  be 
enraged,  and  if  he  said  the  ships  were  coming  Washington  would 
recall  him,  so  he  was  in  danger  of  getting  into  trouble  either 
with  the  Greeks  or  with  our  own  Government.  It  was  very- 
funny  to  see  him  wriggle,  but  he  used  considerable  tact  and  got 
out  of  it  splendidly. 

He  took  me  around  to  see  the  British  Minister  and  there  be- 
gan my  first  exhibition  of  tongue  control !  I  have  made  up  for 
it  since  I  got  back!  Doctor  Droppers  introduced  me  to  Sir 
Francis  Elliot  and  I  did  not  say  a  word  except,  "How  do  you 
do?"  I  let  these  two  men  do  the  talking.  However,  at  the  end 
of  five  minutes  I  saw  I  was  a  nuisance,  so  I  said,  "Sir  Francis, 
I  know  you  will  do  the  best  you  can.  If  you  can,  let  me  go ;  if 
you  can't,  please  say  so  and  I  will  go  away  and  try  to  be  content." 
He  asked,  "Do  you  mean  that?"  I  replied,  "I  do."  He  said, 
"We  shall  see."  I  thought,  "Here's  where  I  start  back  for 
America."  He  sent  me  down  to  the  Bureau  des  Allies,  where  I 
filled  out  the  necessary  forms.  I  suppose  my  photograph  is  in 
every  police  station  in  Europe,  because  wherever  you  go  you 
have  to  hand  out  a  stack  of  photographs,  for  the  civil  and  mili- 
tary authorities,  which  looks  like  a  pack  of  playing  cards.  They 
keep  the  pack,  sticking  a  photograph  onto  every  paper  in  sight, 
and  just  give  you  one  to  identify  you  at  the  next  place. 

I  was  introduced  to  an  American  who  looked  like  an  Ameri- 
can stage  detective.  He  was  stocky,  thick-set,  and  had  a  derby 
hat  cocked  over  one  eye — a  "gimlet  eye"  which  looked  straight 
through  me  into  my  very  soul.  He  said,  "Wnen  do  you  want  to 
sail?"  I  said,  "To-morrow."  He  said,  "You  will  have  to  get 
your  passports  vised  by  the  American  Consul,  the  British  Con- 
sul, the  Italian  Consul,  the  French "  I  interrupted  him,  say- 
ing, "I  want  to  get  back  to  America  in  time  to  catch  the  winter 
season  and  get  more  money  to  keep  some  of  the  Serbians  alive." 
He  said,  "Oh,  I  will  get  it  vised  and  send  it  around  to  your  hotel 
to-night."    I  nearly  collapsed  with  joy. 

Saloniki  was  a  most  marvelous  sight.  The  harbor  was  full 
of  battleships,  cruisers,  destroyers,  hospital  ships — the  biggest 
passenger  ships  in  the  world  painted  white  with  a  green  band 
on  their  sides  and  a  Red  Cross  painted  on  them.  Later  some  of 
these  latter  ships  were  sunk  while  carrying  wounded.  Not  very 
long  before  our  arrival  a  Zeppelin  had  been  brought  down  near 
Saloniki  within  five  hundred  feet  of  the  house  of  one  of  my 
friends,  where  she  and  her  two  little  children  were  sleeping. 
Every  once  in  a  while  a  hydro-aeroplane  would  go  swooping  over- 


THE  WOMEN  OF  1918  34& 

head  like  a  great  dragon-fly,  and  the  town  was  full  of  the  most 
varied  aggregation  of  men  I  have  ever  seen.  There  were  Rus- 
sians, Englishmen,  French,  Italians,  Serbians,  Austrian  prisoners, 
Bulgarian  prisoners,  a  few  Turks,  and  you  saw  every  kind  of 
uniform,  every  color,  every  shape,  every  sort,  and  the  most 
gorgeous  outfits  of  all,  I  may  tell  you,  were  worn  by  American 
war  correspondents. 

I  was  not  in  uniform;  I  was  not  a  soldier;  I  was  just  a 
traveler.  One  day  a  French  officer  who,  seeing  me  not  in  uni- 
form nor  dressed  as  a  nurse,  could  not  make  out  what  I  was 
doing  there  in  a  port  of  war,  said,  "What  are  you,  Madam,  a  sur- 
geon, a  journalist,  or  a  doctor  perhaps?"  I  said,  "The  only  way 
I  can  describe  exactly  what  I  am  is  by  using  a  German  phrase." 
He  said,  "We  will  forgive  you  under  the  circumstances."  Said 
I,  "Well,  then,  I  will  tell  you;  I  am  a  hausfrau  mit  wander- 
lust." 

I  had  been  told  that  women  who  asked  questions  were  per- 
sona non  grata.  I  went  to  the  Consulates ;  to  the  refugee  camps 
and  the  hospitals ;  I  interviewed  everybody  who  could  give  me  any 
information  on  the  subject  of  Serbia's  needs.  It  was  interesting, 
though  very  tragic.  At  the  end  of  five  days,  knowing  that  my 
room  was  preferable  to  my  company,  I  was  ready  to  start  back — 
my  report  written  out  and  all  available  information  at  my  fingers' 
ends. 

At  this  point  I  was  introduced  to  Col.  Doctor  Sondermeyer, 
head  of  the  Military  Medical  Service  of  the  Serbian  Army.  I 
happened  to  hear  him  say  he  was  going  up  to  the  Front  the  next 
day.  I  dashed  forward  and  said,  "I  would  give  anything  I 
possess  to  go  there."  He  said,  "Do  you  speak  German?"  I 
don't  but  I  know  many  words  in  German,  so  I  said,  "I  speak  it 
very  well."  He  said,  "Under  those  circumstances  I  will  take 
you  the  next  time  I  go."  Perhaps  I  was  not  excited.  I  wanted 
to  tell  everybody  I  was  going  to  the  Front.  He  told  me  I  must 
not  speak  of  it,  nobody  must  know  I  was  going,  since  even  news- 
paper men  were  not  allowed  to  go.  For  five  endless  days  I  sat 
around  Saloniki  and  waited.  Finally  I  went  out  and  secured  my 
ticket  back  home.  Getting  back  to  the  hotel  I  found  Col.  Sonder- 
meyer waiting  for  me.  He  asked,  "Can  you  be  ready  to  go  to 
the  Front  in  half  an  hour?"  I  said,  "I  should  think  so."  Ten 
minutes  before  the  half  hour  was  up  I  was  in  his  office  ready 
to  go.  We  went  out.  We  were  the  only  people  in  Macedonia 
leaving  the  city  that  day.  Mr.  Venizelos  had  arrived  that  morn- 
ing and  I  had  been  asked  to  be  on  the  Committee  to  meet  him. 
We  drove  for  hours  over  the  rough  roads  of  Northern 
Macedonia.     As  night  fell  and  the  moon  came  up,  we  found 


346   ONE  HUNDRED  PER  CENT  AMERICAN 

ourselves  climbing  a  mountain  and  there,  in  a  white  city,  we 
spent  the  night. 

I  don't  say  we  slept — we  spent  the  night!  Because  when  I 
took  the  lamp  over  and  investigated  my  bed  the  slaughter  began. 
At  dawn  I  was  outside  that  hotel.  I  went  out  into  the  street 
and  whistled  up  toward  where  I  believed  the  Colonel's  room  to 
be,  and  from  every  window  except  his  a  head  appeared.  I 
thought  that  he  must  have  been  devoured.  I  was  just  turning 
sadly  away  when  around  the  corner  came  the  wreck  of  Col. 
Sondermeyer.  He  clapped  his  hand  to  his  head  and  said,  "What 
a  night!"     And  I  knew  he  had  suffered,  too. 

I  sent  some  one  to  fetch  my  things  and  then  we  started  on 
our  way.  About  two  miles  out  of  town  we  fell  in  with  a  column 
of  marching  troops.  We  were  in  a  little,  coughing,  sputtering, 
choking  Ford  car.  It  was  a  clever  thing.  It  would  throw  us  up 
into  the  air  and  catch  us  as  we  came  down.  It  never  missed  us 
once.  We  would  skid  around  a  motor  lorry,  then  just  miss  a 
group  of  soldiers,  and  those  soldiers,  by  the  way,  were  French 
and  Senegalese — all  of  them  in  the  blue-gray  uniform  of  the 
French  army  and  with  steel  helmets  shaped  somewhat  like  a 
soup-plate. 

It  was  a  sultry  Indian-summer  day,  and  the  sweat  was  pour- 
ing down  the  faces  of  the  Senegalese  until  they  looked  like  wet 
chocolate.  Col.  Sondermeyer,  who  was  choking  with  the  dust, 
fell  into  the  common  mistake  of  thinking  that  because  they  didn't 
understand  Serbian,  they  would  understand  his  only  other  foreign 
language,  so  he  shouted  to  them  in  German  to  let  us  pass.  The 
Senegalese  came  at  us  and  it  looked  for  a  minute  as  if  we  would 
be  punctured  with  their  bayonets.  However,  I  leaned  out  and  ex- 
plained in  my  very  best  French  who  we  were  and  would  they 
kindly  let  us  pass? 

Then  we  came  to  that  wonderful  tent  hospital.  We  inspected 
the  place  and  later  the  Crown  Prince  arrived  and  there  was  a 
modest  luncheon.  He  had  me  placed  next  to  him  and  talked  to 
me  about  America.  "Do  you  think  America  will  come  into  this 
war?"  he  asked.  I  said,  "Yes,  why  not?  She  is  only  getting 
ready.  We  Americans  are  of  so  many  mingled  races  that  we 
don't  all  see  things  in  the  same  way.  It  is  only  a  question  of 
time  when  we  will  come  in.  I  know  we  will."  You  see,  we 
women  did  not  have  the  vote  then,  and  nothing  I  could  say  would 
compromise  the  Government! 

"Why  don't  you  go  nearer  the  Front?"  he  asked.  I  replied, 
"Highness,  I  am  told  that  it  is  quite  impossible."  "Nothing  is 
impossible,"  he  said.  My  heart  began  to  jump.  He  said  some- 
thing in  Serbian  to  his  Chief-of-Staff,  who  asked,  "How  far  do 


THE  WOMEN  OF  1918  347 

you  want  to  go,  Madame?"  "Just  as  far  as  possible,"  I  said. 
He  answered,  "We  will  see  about  it,"  and  the  next  day  at  dawn 
we  started  off  toward  the  sound  of  the  guns. 

I  was  presented,  in  a  partly  ruined  village,  to  the  Commander- 
in-Chief  of  the  Serbian  Army.  Everybody  in  Macedonia  asked 
questions  but  me.  He,  too,  asked,  "How  far  do  you  want  to  go  ?" 
I  replied,  "Just  as  far  as  you  will  allow  me."  His  Aide-de-Camp 
came,  we  were  again  packed  into  the  car,  and  again  we  were 
going  nearer  to  the  sound  of  those  guns.  We  came  to  a  place 
where  there  were  two  rough  stones  set  up  in  the  earth.  The  Aide- 
de-Camp  got  out  of  the  car  and  said,  "I  have  the  honor  to  in- 
form you  that  you  are  the  first  woman  of  any  nationality  to  enter 
reconquered  Serbian  territory."  I  did  not  take  me  long  to  pile 
out  of  that  car.  Please  don't  think  me  oversentimental.  Re- 
member I  have  seen  those  people  suffer.  I  realized  then  what 
America  owed  to  Serbia.  I  went  on  one  knee,  picked  up  a  hand- 
ful of  that  earth,  sacred  because  it  was  consecrated  by  so  much 
heroic  blood,  and  pressed  it  to  my  lips. 

Suddenly  somebody  said,  "There's  an  aeroplane,"  and  I  saw 
just  a  flash  of  silver  in  that  cloudless  air.  Growing  out  of  that 
blue  sky,  behind  the  flash  of  silver,  were  three  fleecy  puffs  of 
vapor.  As  these  flecked  the  sky  I  cried  out  "What  is  it  ?"  and  was 
told,  "It  is  one  of  our  planes  pursued  by  the  enemy  shrapnel." 
Those  little,  fleecy,  innocent-looking  puffs  with  many  deaths 
in  each  one  were  chasing  it  down  the  sky,  but  it  got  safely 
away. 

Now  we  had  to  leave  the  car  and  begin  to  climb  a  small  moun- 
tain. We  were  so  near  the  guns  by  this  time  that  we  could  barely 
hear  each  other's  shouting.  From  a  little  gulley  some  officers  ap- 
peared who  offered  me  their  chargers  to  ride.  Those  cavalry 
horses  were  magnificent  chargers,  sixteen  hands  two.  I  was  in  an 
ordinary  tailor-made  skirt,  so  I  decided  to  walk.  From  twelve 
o'clock  until  one  on  this  sultry,  Indian-summer  day  we  climbed.  I 
had  on  a  cool  shirt  waist  with  the  collar  open,  so  I  felt  fairly 
comfortable,  but  the  officers  in  their  uniforms  with  the  closed 
collars  looked  very  warm.  Imagine  thinking  of  this  feature  of 
personal  comfort  then. 

Somebody  gave  me  a  big  ball  of  cotton  wool.  I  put  some  into 
my  ears  so  I  looked  like  a  rabbit.  The  next  moment  we  came 
around  a  corner  and  saw  a  group  of  big  guns.  The  shells  from 
them  were  falling  in  the  Bulgarian  trenches.  We  walked  on  and 
came  to  a  place  where  we  were  met  by  a  group  of  officers.  The 
Commander  had  them  cease  firing  for  a  little  while  we  talked 
and  then  said,  "Do  you  want  to  see  what  is  going  on?" 

They  took  me  to  the  top  of  a  precipice.    Before  me,  nine  miles 


348       ONE  HUNDRED  PER  CENT  AMERICAN 

away,  was  Monastir.  In  the  mountains  were  the  French  forces, 
their  shells  falling  on  this  plain,  keeping  the  enemy  back.  In  the 
curve  of  the  river  opposite,  a  very  large  force  of  Bulgarians  was 
entrenched.  Their  shells  were  falling  in  a  village  a  quarter  of  a 
mile  behind  us.  The  long  procession  of  stretchers  would  go  out 
from  that  little  village  and  back  to  the  dressing  station  behind 
the  lines.  I  saw  men  brought  off  that  battlefield,  where  first  the 
Serbians  had  held  it,  then  the  enemy,  then  the  Serbians  again, — 
with  their  eyes  gouged  out,  their  noses  cut  off,  and  later  I  saw 
the  Serbian  soldiers  sharing  their  scanty  stock  of  tobacco  with 
their  captured  enemies.  This  is  the  difference  between  the  Serbian 
and  the  Bulgarian. 

The  Commander  said,  "Would  you  like  to  go  further  into 
Serbia  than  even  we  have  been?"  Upon  my  reply  in  the  affir- 
mative, as  usual,  he  said,  "Take  my  hand.  Lean  out."  I  leaned 
out  from  the  verge  of  the  precipice  and  by  the  length  of  my  own 
body  I  was  further  into  Serbia  than  the  Serbians  had  been !  As 
I  looked  down  into  our  trenches  a  moment  later  I  saw  a  great  shell 
fall  there  and  eight  or  ten  men  were  smashed  to  a  bloody  pulp. 
He  then  asked,  "Would  you  like  to  give  the  signal  for  our  guns 
to  recommence  firing?"  I  did  so.  In  a  moment,  "Boom" — those 
great  shells  went  over  my  head.  When  I  saw  that  great  mush- 
room of  dust  and  blood  and  arms  and  legs  go  up  in  the  air,  I 
cheered  like  a  crazy  woman.  I  cried,  "Vengeance  !  Vengeance  ! 
I  send  this  in  the  name  of  American  women."  It  was  not  that 
red-headed  Texas  boy  who  fired  the  first  shot  for  America  in  this 
war;  it  was  a  woman's  hand  who  fired  the  first  shot  to  avenge 
European  womanhood. 

They  said  I  would  have  to  leave.  I  said,  "I  can't  go ;  I  won't 
go."  I  had  often  wondered  how  I  would  conduct  myself  when  I 
found  myself  under  fire.  My  father  was  a  soldier.  I  wanted  to 
stay  there.  I  was  not  afraid.  It  did  not  occur  to  me  that  I  was 
in  any  danger.  I  would  not  have  minded  if  I  knew  I  was  going 
to  die.  I  would  have  stayed.  I  was  there  with  heroes,  with  men, 
some  of  whom  had  passed  through  my  hands  in  hospitals  two 
years  before,  and  they  were  fighting  again  for  their  native  land. 
But  they  said  I  must  go.  They  told  me,  "You  know  it  is  very 
dangerous.  If  any  harm  comes  to  you  we  are  responsible.  You 
must  go." 

So  I  started  down  the  hill.  Just  then  the  Commander-in-Chief 
came  up  and  I  flung  myself  at  him.  He  is  a  little  man  and  I 
almost  squashed  him  flat.  I  said,  "Have  I  got  to  go  ?"  "Haven't 
you  had  enough  of  it?"  he  asked.  "No,"  I  cried.  He  looked  a 
trifle  dazed  and  said,  "You  ought  to  have  been  a  soldier."  "Make 
me  one,"  I  shouted.    And  after  I  got  back  to  America  I  received 


THE  WOMEN  OF  1918  349 

the  material  for  my  uniform  and  a  letter  saying  that  I  had  been 
made  a  Sergeant  in  the  Royal  Serbian  Army. 

The  Commander-in-Chief,  when  dusk  began  to  fall,  said, 
"Now,  Madame,  we  are  going  to  consider  you  our  mascot.  To- 
night we  will  leave  the  trenches  and  see  if  we  can  make  the  ad- 
vance which  will  take  us  across  the  river  for  the  first  time  in 
our  march  toward  Monastir."  I  said,  "Will  you  let  me  know 
when  you  are  going  to  make  the  charge  ?"  He  looked  at  me  and 
said,  "You  will  hear  us,"  and  I  went  back  by  his  orders  to  a  place 
behind  the  lines. 

I  felt  as  if  there  were  steel  bands  pulling  me  back  to  the  moun- 
tains every  step  I  took  away  from  them.  I  went  back  to  that 
dressing  station,  where  those  mutilated  men  were,  some  of  whom 
bore  little  if  any  resemblance  to  men  at  all,  because  they  had  been 
in  the  enemy's  hands.  The  doctors  told  me  Serbian  stories  and 
sang  Serbian  songs.  And  at  last  there  was  a  lull  in  the  fighting. 
Then  pandemonium  broke  loose.  The  guns  were  firing  furiously, 
every  gun  and  every  rifle,  and  we  heard  the  men  leave  the 
trenches.  We  heard  them  make  that  dash  across  the  plain,  where 
they  drove  the  Bulgarians  out  and  crossed  the  river  for  the  first 
time  in  their  advance  into  their  own  country. 

Back  there,  in  the  dressing  station  behind  the  lines,  with  those 
dying  men  near  me,  I  sang  "America."  I  haven't  any  more 
voice  than  a  crow.  The  tears  rolled  down  my  face.  If  I  were  to 
be  paralyzed  or  stricken  blind  to-morrow,  I  have  recollections 
enough  for  a  long,  long  life,  and  I  was  happy  because  it  was  not 
just  I  who  was  there,  not  simply  Ruth  Farnam, — you  were  there, 
all  you  American  women  stood  there  among  those  brave  men. 

And  when  I  had  to  come  back — oh!  it  was  hard  to  have  to 
come  back  to  America  just  to  beg.  I  want  to  go  back  now,  but 
I  am  under  orders  to  stay  here,  because  here  I  can  do  more 
valuable  work  than  I  could  hope  to  do  over  there. 

When  I  got  to  Saloniki,  Prince  Alexander  sent  for  me.  After 
talking  some  time  of  what  America  might  do  in  the  future  he 
said,  "I  know  what  happened  up  there.  I  see  you  wear  two  of 
our  decorations.  I  want  you  to  wear  the  third,"  and  he  gave  me 
the  St.  Sava,  which  is  the  highest  decoration  of  its  kind  given. 
I  said,  "Does  your  Highness  think  I  merit  it?"  He  replied,  "I 
know  no  better  friend  of  Serbia  than  Ruth  Farnam.  Go  back 
and  tell  America  how  much  we  appreciate  what  has  been  done  for 
us  by  America.  Tell  her  that  we  look  upon  her  as  our  sister  ;  that 
we  will  fight  to  the  end ;  that  we  will  be  faithful  to  death.  If  you 
will  send  us  just  machinery  and  seeds,  when  the  war  is  over,  after 
our  first  harvest  we  shall  require  no  aid  from  any  one." 

Yesterday,  talking  to  a  great  authority  on  Serbian  affairs,  he 


350   ONE  HUNDRED  PER  CENT  AMERICAN 

said,  "Do  you  realize  that  if  America  does  as  well  as  Serbia  has 
done,  there  will  never  be  war  again  in  this  world  ?"  I  said,  "Yes, 
I  think  so."  He  answered,  "Tell  America  that  when  she  has 
spent  fifty  billion  dollars,  when  she  has  lost  twenty-five  million 
of  her  population,  she  will  have  done  in  comparison  as  much  as 
Serbia  has  done — or  at  least  suffered." 


TWO:  BY  MRS.  A.  BURNETT-SMITH 

(Annie  S.  Swan)  of  London,  England. 

After  the  eloquent  and  most  moving  story  to  which  we  have 
listened,  I  almost  fear  that  I  will  not  be  able  to  get  and  hold  your 
attention  because  the  story  I  have  to  tell  is  very  different.  There 
is  no  fighting  in  it,  the  kind  of  fighting  that  we  have  just  heard 
about  and  which  has  made  our  hearts  so  thrill  in  response;  but 
I  think,  nevertheless,  that  my  own  story  of  how  the  womanhood 
of  my  country  was  mobilized  for  war  and  how  it  is  carrying  on 
to  this  day  will  also  move  your  hearts,  perhaps  because  you  may 
find  in  it  some  parallel  for  your  own  case,  and  it  may  present 
the  picture  of  what  you  will  have  to  become  before  the  war 
is  won. 

I  must  take  you  back  to  the  wonderful  days  of  1914,  when 
there  was  presented  to  the  world  surely  the  most  amazing 
spectacle  it  had  ever  seen.  I  do  not  know  how  it  was  in  this 
country  before  you  entered  the  war ;  but  in  my  country  the  season 
immediately  preceding  the  war  was  one  of  unexampled  extrav- 
agance. Never  at  any  time  had  there  been  such  expenditure  of 
money,  such  a  wild  pursuit  of  pleasure,  such  devotion  to  sport, 
and  to  ease,  and  to  having  what  you  call  here  "a  good  time." 
The  country  was  very  prosperous;  wages  were  high;  there  was 
plenty  of  money  and  it  was  thrown  about  with  a  reckless 
extravagance,  and  always  there  was  the  search  and  cry  for  some 
new  thing;  but  there  was  no  happiness.  Everywhere  you  could 
see  the  unrest  in  the  people's  faces,  and  the  eyes  of  the  women 
were  tired,  and  their  hearts  were  empty.  They  did  not  know 
what  was  the  matter  with  them. 

Then  God,  who  makes  no  mistakes,  either  in  the  lives  of 
human  beings  or  of  nations,  said,  "It  is  time  to  awake  out  of 
sleep,"  and  in  a  moment,  all  the  false  gods  we  had  been  worship- 
ing, the  things  I  have  told  you  of,  fell  from  us  like  a  garment 
for  which  we  had  no  further  use,  and  we  became  in  a  moment 
one  class  and  one  people,  brothers  and  sisters,  united  behind  the 
common  danger  and  the  common  cause. 


THE  WOMEN  OF  1918  351 

Then  there  was  to  be  seen  the  miracle  of  our  new  army. 
The  roads  and  streets  re-echoed  with  the  tramp  of  armed  men 
and  arming  men;  not  troops  or  soldiers  or  men  who  had  to  be 
there  because  it  was  their  duty  and  they  could  not  escape  it. 
Oh,  no ;  our  sons  came  at  the  call  of  danger  from  the  uttermost 
ends  of  the  earth,  ready  to  give  their  fine  young  lives  and  hopes 
and  futures,  all  that  they  were  and  had,  to  lay  it  at  the  feet  of 
the  mother  who  had  borne  them.  When  these  millions  were 
taken  from  the  civilian  occupations,  you  will  readily  understand 
that  civilian  life  was  at  once  affected  to  such  a  degree  that  business 
was  almost  paralyzed;  and  then  it  was  that  the  women  had  to 
step  into  the  breach. 

If  you  were  to  go  to  England  to-day  you  would  see  the 
words  that  are  written  on  this  programme,  "The  Women  of 
191 8."  You  would  see  them  visualized,  mobilized,  working,  carry- 
ing out  the  whole  programme  of  industry,  filling  up  every  gap 
and  helping  to  win  the  war  in  any  way  they  can ;  in  many  ways 
which  it  is  impossible  for  me  to  tell  you  but  which  history  alone 
will  perpetuate. 

The  first  cry  was,  "They  have  to  be  equipped  with  arms  and 
uniforms  and  everything  they  need."  Munitions  were  the  first 
essential.  Do  you  know  that  at  the  outbreak  of  the  war  we  had 
in  England  only  three  factories  for  the  actual  creation  and 
output  of  munitions?  We  have  now  five  thousand,  and  a  very 
large  number  of  those  factories  are  manned  by  women,  if  I  may 
use  that  expression.  We  have  now  two  million  of  the  women 
mobilized  for  war  service,  under  martial  law  quite  as  much  as 
the  men  are.  They  all  wear  uniforms  and  they  are  not  allowed 
to  resign  their  commissions  or  to  leave  except  under  strict 
medical  exemption.  A  large  percentage  of  our  munition  workers 
were  women  of  the  very  highest  class,  the  daughters  of  the 
peers  of  the  realm,  cabinet  ministers,  rich  men's  daughters  who 
had  never  in  their  lives  done  a  day's  work,  and  some  of  them 
have  been  working  in  these  factories  now  for  over  three  years, 
earning  their  weekly  wage,  twelve  hours  per  day,  living  the 
communal  life  in  the  village,  side  by  side  with  their  sisters  from 
the  East  End,  and  giving  all  they  earn  into  the  war  fund. 

They  don't  like  that  work.  How  could  they?  There  is 
nothing  in  war  or  in  what  war  stands  for  that  could  appeal  to 
women.  God  has  made  woman  a  creator.  War  is  a  destroyer. 
War  makes  waste  and  throws  away.  Woman,  by  her  high  herit- 
age, is  a  builder,  a  constructor.  She  cares  for  the  old  and  cares 
for  the  young  and  tender  and  those  who  need  her;  and  therefore, 
I  say  that  war  and  all  it  stands  for  is  opposed  to  everything  she 
holds  most  dear.     And  yet,  here  is  this  extraordinary  spectacle 


352       ONE  HUNDRED  PER  CENT  AMERICAN 

of  a  whole  great  nation  mobilized  from  the  highest  to  the  lowest 
for  the  prosecution  of  the  war,  pledged  to  one  thing,  and  that 
one  thing  only  that  there  shall  be  no  cessation  of  labor,  no 
slackening,  until  the  war  is  actually  won. 

The  explanation  is  very  simple;  because  there  is  one  thing 
that  is  worse  than  war,  and  that  is  a  peace  which  is  based  upon 
dishonor,  upon  broken  promises,  upon  selfish  shirking  of  re- 
sponsibility. And  it  is  because  through  suffering  that  the 
womanhood  of  Great  Britain  has  realized  these  great  essential 
truths  that  there  is  not  to  be  found  now,  in  this,  the  fourth  year 
of  the  war,  from  end  to  end  of  the  great  Empire,  one  who  has 
grudged  or  will  ever  grudge  any  sacrifice  that  she  has  made. 

I  don't  like  that  word  ''sacrifice."  I  think  we  ought  to  elimi- 
nate it  from  our  war  vocabulary;  for  surely,  when  we  consider 
that  for  which  we  fight,  we,  the  free  English-speaking  peoples, 
pledged  to  fight  and  to  die  if  need  be  for  the  great  truths  and 
great  essential  facts  which  alone  make  life  worth  living,  why 
should  we  call  it  sacrifice?  Nay,  we  should  call  it  and  feel  it 
to  be  rather  a  right,  a  privilege  and  a  joy. 

I  could  tell  you  much  more  about  the  mobilization  of  our 
women,  about  our  operations  in  every  field  of  labor  which 
hitherto  has  been  sacred  to  men.  I  think  the  field  where  we 
found  the  most  difficulty  in  planting  out  the  women  soldiers  was 
in  the  land  army,  now  numbering  three  hundred  thousand.  I 
don't  know  how  the  farmers  are  in  this  country,  but  in  our 
country  they  belong  to  what  we  call  the  old,  conservative  party 
that  never  wants  to  change  anything.  They  want  to  go  on  and 
on  in  the  old  paths,  chosen  by  their  fathers  and  their  grand- 
fathers; and  so  we  had  very  great  difficulty  in  persuading  the 
farmers  that  it  was  essential  that  they  should  at  least  give  the 
women  workers  a  trial  on  the  land.  A  very  typical  old  farmer 
whom  I  tackled  on  that  in  the  market-place  of  my  own  town  was 
very  indignant  because  I  asked  him  to  take  three  women  to 
take  the  place  of  three  men  who  had  to  go  into  the  army. 
"Women  on  the  land!  They  ain't  any  good  on  the  land;  they 
don't  even  know  how  to  work  a  garden.  Just  see  what  Eve  did 
in  Eden."  We  could  not  quite  follow  his  reasoning.  All  that 
was  recorded  of  poor  Eve  is  that  she  handed  on  the  apple. 

However,  I  am  happy  to  tell  you  that  he  had  to  take  the  three 
women  and  that  now,  like  Oliver  Twist,  he  is  asking  for  "More !" 

Then  we  have  a  large  legion  working  in  France.  They 
have  replaced  the  men  at  the  base  camps  and  behind  the  lines 
who  used  to  work  as  orderlies,  did  the  clerical,  the  typing  and 
signaling  work.  We  have  a  very  large  army  there  and  new 
troops  are  constantly  being  sent  over;  but  they  have  done  such 


THE  WOMEN  OF  1918  353 

satisfactory  service  that  constantly  the  appeal  will  come  from 
the  other  side  for  more  and  more  to  be  sent  over. 

I  suppose  you  are  making  a  number  of  mistakes  here,  just 
as  we  did  at  home  in  the  beginning  of  the  war.  Our  Premier, 
Mr.  Lloyd  George,  said  in  one  of  his  wonderful  speeches,  that  to 
a  peace-loving  country  war  is  a  trackless  waste  in  which  the  path 
has  to  be  discovered,  and  it  is  only  service  which  entitles 
criticism.  We  must  remember  that  when  we  are  trying  to  judge 
those  who  have  these  terrible  responsibilities  on  their  shoulders, 
and  ask  ourselves  whether  we  have  given  sufficient  service  to 
entitle  us  to  pass  any  criticism  on  them. 

The  women  have  been  so  splendid  in  their  spirit  and  in  their 
example  to  the  entire  nation  that  I  can  scarcely  speak  about  it 
and  command  my  voice,  but  I  should  like  to  give  you  one  little 
picture  which  will  show  you  how  they  feel  and  act  in  moments 
of  extreme  peril  and  danger ;  and  before  I  tell  you  that  little  story 
I  think  I  ought  to  explain  to  you  what  I  think  is  not  fully 
understood  yet  in  this  country,  that  a  very  large  section  of 
England  is  now  as  much  the  war  zone  as  any  country  which  is 
invaded  or  where  the  actual  fighting  is  going  on.  We  are  liable 
to  bombardment  from  the  sea  and  we  have  had  a  great  deal  of 
it,  and  also  we  have  continuous  air-raids  three  or  four  nights 
a  week.  It  is  what  is  called,  that  is,  in  the  cities,  "The  Zeppelin 
Season." 

At  the  beginning  of  the  Zeppelin  raids  I  had  the  misfortune 
to  have  my  own  home  blown  up  and  everything  in  it  was 
destroyed.  We,  happily,  by  a  mercy,  a  miracle  of  God's  grace, 
were  all  spared.  We  were  all  doing  the  thing  we  were  told  not  to 
do.  We  were  told  to  go  into  the  basement.  We  were  not  then  so 
frightened,  and  we  were  outside,  watching  the  airships,  when, 
in  a  moment  of  time — four  minutes  by  the  clock  the  raid  lasted — ■ 
my  house  and  a  great  many  other  houses  in  the  immediate  vicinity 
were  absolutely  destroyed,  a  great  many  people  were  killed,  and 
such  havoc  wrought  as  you  have  seen  in  pictures  from  the 
ordinary  fighting  fronts.  It  is  a  very  extraordinary  thing 
to  stand  on  the  terrace  of  your  house  one  moment,  lov- 
ing all  that  is  within  those  walls; —  it  was  full  of  treasures 
which  we  had  gathered  up  through  a  long  life  of  happy  associa- 
tion together ;  each  article  in  that  house  had  its  little  story ; — 
and  the  next  moment  there  was  no  house  and  there  was  nothing 
left;  but  so  extraordinary  is  the  mental  state  and  the  spiritual 
uplift  of  these  long  years  of  strain  and  suffering  that  one  cares 
no  more  about  these  things.  There  are  no  things  any  more; 
there  are  only  a  great  cause  and  what  we  can  do  to  help  it  all. 
We  are  not  our  own  any  longer;  "we  are  bought  with  a  price.', 


354       ONE  HUNDRED  PER  CENT  AMERICAN 

Before  I  sit  down  I  should  just  like  to  touch,  as  I  like  to  do 
always,  on  the  spiritual  side  of  the  war,  because  it  is  only  when 
it  is  fully  realized  by  all  those  who  are  engaged  in  this  mighty 
struggle  that  it  is  not  an  ordinary  war  at  all,  it  is  not  a  common 
struggle  between  one  nation  and  another  nation  for  supremacy 
or  a  "place  in  the  sun"  or  money  or  territory  or  any  of  the  things 
that  they  say  they  fight  for;  it  is  something  far  deeper  and 
higher  and  more  sacred  and  more  essential.  It  is  the  great  fight 
between  right  and  wrong,  between  might  and  right;  it  is  the 
struggle  for  the  supremacy  of  the  things  that  matter,  the  only 
things  which  make  life  possible  for  the  men  and  women  who 
care  upon  the  face  of  this  earth. 

And  I  should  like  to  explain  to  you  in  as  few  words  as  I  can, 
what  the  effect  of  these  three  and  a  half  years  of  strain  has 
been  on  our  people,  how  very  gradually  it  has  come  about,  how 
we  have  been  purged  and  made  clean  from  so  much  of  the  selfish 
dross  and  self-seeking  which  characterized  us  before ;  because  it 
is  a  very  comforting  and  uplifting  feeling  that  one  gets  reflecting 
upon  it.  It  means  just  this,  that  war  is  not  altogether  a  de- 
stroyer. It  has  something  in  it  which  compensates,  something 
which  builds  up  and  helps  to  reconstruct.  Before  there  can  be 
a  reconstruction  of  any  old  worn-out  fabric,  there  must  neces- 
sarily be  something  broken  and  shorn  away.  You  know  some- 
thing of  what  our  losses  have  been.  We  don't  any  more  read 
our  casualty  lists ;  none  of  us  dare.  They  are  very  long.  Before 
I  left  home  they  were  always  quoted  at  about  two  thousand  a 
day,  and  I  should  like  you  just  to  try  and  visualize  what  that 
means  to  my  country,  how  many  mourning  hearts  that  stands 
for.  I  believe  I  am  quite  within  the  mark  when  I  say  there  is 
not  a  single  home  in  the  whole  length  and  breadth  of  the  land 
which  has  not  at  least  one  empty  chair  or  maimed  son.  In  the 
little  country  town  to  which  I  have  the  honor  to  belong  that  is 
practically  true,  and  there  are  many  villages  where  there  is  not 
left  a  single  young  man,  there  is  not  one  who  will  ever  come 
back ;  and  all  that  stands  between  old  age  and  the  future  are  the 
little  children  in  arms  and  the  little,  little  boys  who  run  about  the 
streets. 

What,  then,  do  you  think,  is  the  spirit  of  the  people  who  have 
come  through  all  these  things?  The  same  spirit,  you  will  find, 
as  we  have  had  so  splendidly  described  about  the  people  of 
Serbia.  You  will  find  it  in  Italy,  in  France  and  in  Belgium,  and 
you  will  find  it  in  great  America  when  the  testing  time  comes; 
and  you  need  not  be  afraid  of  the  test,  because  when  it  comes 
you  will  be  ready  for  it.  There  will  come  to  you  from  afar  a 
great   courage,   a   wonderful   ability   to   stand  up,   even  under 


THE  WOMEN  OF  1918  355 

sorrows  the  most  poignant  and  the  most  lasting;  it  will  come  to 
you  as  it  has  come  to  us ;  there  will  be  compensation. 

I  have  one  friend  who  lost  all  of  her  five  sons.  One  was 
killed  at  Gallipoli;  the  other  four  sleep  in  France  and  Flanders. 
She  herself  works  fourteen  hours  a  day  at  a  canteen,  and,  what 
is  more  wonderful  than  all,  there  is  no  cloud  on  her  face. 

Whence  comes  this  amazing  strength?  Aye,  it  comes  from 
far  away;  it  comes  because  we  know  that  we  have  a  sure  and 
certain  hope.  We  know  that  all  that  glorious  young  life,  the 
flower  and  hope  and  joy  of  the  nation,  could  not  go  down  like 
the  beasts  that  perish.  Nay,  nay;  somewhere  beyond  they  are 
"carrying  on";  they  are  marching  on;  as  one  of  your  splendid 
battle-songs  says ;  and  it  is  up  to  us,  the  men  and  women  who 
are  left  and  for  whom  they  have  died,  to  ask  ourselves  right 
here  and  now,  what  are  we  doing  in  this  great  struggle.  Are  we 
doing  and  giving  the  utmost  that  is  in  us? 

Like  all  things  in  human  history  and  human  life,  it  narrows 
itself  down  to  the  individual  responsibility.  It  was  remembered 
when  the  Lord  Jesus  Himself  walked  with  men,  how  very  keen 
and  quick  He  was  to  pronounce  in  matters  of  right  and  wrong; 
there  was  no  neutrality  about  Him.  He  swept  the  money- 
changers from  the  temple.  He  also  said,  Who  was  Himself 
the  Prince  of  Peace,  "I  am  come  not  to  bring  peace,  but  a 
sword;"  and  He  also  said,  "Whoso  is  not  for  us  is  against  us." 
And  so,  it  is  narrowed  down  to  one  little  platform:  either  we 
are  for  or  against,  and  if  we  are  for  a  person  or  a  cause,  what  do 
we  do  ?  Why,  we  give  all ;  we  give  our  money — that  is  nothing, 
anybody  can  give  money — we  give  our  time,  our  service,  our 
loved  ones,  and  that  is  the  hardest  of  all;  we  give  ourselves. 

I  know  that  great  America  is  going  to  rise  to  that  height. 
She  is  so  great  and  so  fine  a  country  and  has  so  long  stood  for 
all  that  is  free  and  noble  and  best  in  the  human  race,  that  now 
is  her  opportunity  to  show  that  not  only  can  she  equal  the 
sacrifice  and  glorious  expenditure  of  those  who  have  been  so 
long  in  this  terrible  fight ;  but,  please  God,  perhaps  she  may  excel 
them  and  show  to  the  world  what  a  consecrated  democracy  is 
ready  to  do  for  mankind. 


356       ONE  HUNDRED  PER  CENT  AMERICAN 


THREE:     BY  MRS.  AMELIA  BINGHAM 

Although  you  have  just  been  standing  may  I  ask  every  one 
in  the  room  to  rise  while  I  read  a  toast? 

"Here's  to  the  blue  of  the  frozen  North, 

When  we  meet  on  the  fields  of  France; 
May  the  spirit  of  Grant  be  over  all 

When  the  sons  of  the  North  advance. 

Here's  to  the  gray  of  the  sun-kissed  South, 

When  we  meet  on  the  fields  of  France; 
May  the  spirit  of  Lee  be  over  all 

When  the  sons  of  the  South  advance. 

Here's  to  the  blue  and  the  gray  as  one, 

When  we  meet  on  the  fields  of  France; 
May  the  Spirit  of  God  be  over  all 

When  the  sons  of  the  Stars  and  Stripes  advance." 

If  you  had  asked  me  to  speak  on  the  men  of  1918,  I  believe 
I  could  have  said  more  gratifying  things,  because  my  past  three 
months  have  been  spent  mostly  with  our  soldiers  in  our  various 
camps;  three  months  of  gratification  such  as  I  have  never 
experienced  in  all  my  life.  If  I  have  had  to  my  credit  any 
stage  glory  in  my  time,  it  has  disappeared  entirely  and  I  can 
think  only  of  what  to  me  is  the  greatest  body  of  men  I  have 
ever  had  the  privilege  of  seeing  in  all  my  life.  When  I  talk  with 
these  men,  and  take  men  and  women  of  the  stage  to  them  to 
entertain  them  for  an  hour  or  two  to  make  them  forget  the 
loved  ones  left  behind,  I  see  this  wTonderful  manhood;  but  back 
of  it  I  see  the  faces  of  the  mothers,  the  wives  and  sweethearts; 
and  I  want  to  tell  you  my  task  has  not  always  been  any  easy 
one. 

It  just  seems  that  we  had  to  have  this  war,  to  realize  the 
wonderful  manhood  in  this  country.  We  had  to  go  to  the  mines 
and  fields  and  factories  and  bring  these  wonderful  men  together ; 
and  now,  as  I  look  at  them  and  talk  to  them  and  say  good-bye 
to  them,  I  receive  their  messages,  not  one  or  a  dozen,  but  by 
the  thousands,  for  by  my  diary  I  have  talked  to  ten  thousand  of 
our  men  who  were  just  ready  to  leave,  some  of  them  in  two  or 
three  hours ;  some  of  them  in  twenty- four.  I  see  back  of  those 
men  the  faces  of  the  women,  not  the  1918  women,  but  those 
splendid,  wonderful  mothers.  I  don't  know  that  they  are  just 
the  kind  of  women  that  we  1918  women  are.     I  don't  know,  but 


THE  WOMEN  OF  1918  357 

that  sometimes  we  might  be  just  a  little  jealous  of  them,  because 
those  men  to  me  are  a  body  of  the  most  wonderful,  the  most 
serious-minded,  the  cleanest,  the  most  wholesome  men  that  the 
world  has  ever  known. 

Could  they  have  been  what  they  are  except  for  the  mothers, 
the  women  of  a  few  years  ago  that  thought  nothing  about  voting 
or  about  doing  the  things  that  we  women  are  aspiring  to  do 
to-day?  Perhaps  you  gather  at  this  moment  that  I  am  not  a 
suffragist.  I  never  have  been  and  I  never  have  even  approved 
of  many  of  the  things  they' do.  I  am  glad  to  say  I  am  one  of 
the  sort  of  old-fashioned  women.  I  love  the  attention  of  the 
men ;  I  like  to  get  in  a  street  car  and  have  a  man  get  up  and  tip 
his  hat  and  give  me  his  seat.  If  women  these  days  are  assuming 
what  they  seem  to  consider  their  right  and  don't  feel  the  need 
of  these  things,  well,  I  am  sorry,  but  I  have  got  to  confess  that 
the  women  have  been  preparing  themselves  for  a  something 
that  perhaps  they  didn't  realize ;  and  now  we  are  obliged  to  take 
the  places  of  the  men,  thousands  of  places ;  well,  thank  God,  we 
are  ready  for  it. 

Then  too,  as  I  look  at  my  soldier-men,  I  can't  have  much 
sympathy  for  them,  because  to  me  they  have  in  every  way  the 
best  of  it.  The  sorriest  to  me  are  the  faces  of  the  mothers  and 
wives  and  sweethearts.  It  is  a  privilege  to  wear  that  uniform. 
It  is  an  honor  to  die  with  that  uniform  on  for  this  great,  glorious 
country  of  ours,  and  we  women  can't  wear  it.  We  can  only  stop 
behind.  We  have  just  as  much  patriotic  blood  in  our  veins  as 
the  men,  and  sometimes  I  think  that  this  work  that  I  am  doing 
through  being  the  Chairman  of  the  Camp  Entertainment  Com- 
mittee of  the  Stage  Women's  War  Relief,  a  wonderful  organiza- 
tion in  New  York,  of  which  I  have  every  reason  to  be  mighty 
proud — I  dare  say  there  are  many  men  and  women  in  this  room 
who  have  never  taken  us  people  of  stage-land  quite  seriously, 
but  to  those  I  would  say,  "Go  to  our  workrooms  at  the  corner 
of  Thirty-fifth  Street  and  Fifth  Avenue,  and  see  what  we  are 
doing;  the  wonderful  hospital  supplies  that  we  are  turning  out, 
the  entertainment  that  we  are  furnishing  for  a  little  recreation 
for  our  men."  We  are  giving  our  services,  oh  so  willingly,  so 
happily,  because  we  just  feel  that  we  want  to  be  of  this  work, 
that  we  want  to  be  permitted  to  do  our  bit,  and  that  is  why  it 
is  a  joy  to  go  to  the  camps  and  to  see  them  just  before  they  go 
away,  make  them  forget,  make  them  know  that  we  women  are 
at  their  backs ;  for,  no  matter  what  we  do  in  this  war,  how  great 
or  small  the  task,  we  must  have  encouragement ;  we  must  know 
that  there  is  somebody  back  of  us  that  has  confidence  in  us,  and 
oh,  how  our  men  are  going  to  deport  themselves ! 


358       ONE  HUNDRED  PER  CENT  AMERICAN 

I  had  the  privilege  of  seeing  them  five  or  six  months  ago. 
They  were  white- faced,  many  of  them  round  shouldered;  they 
could  scarcely  keep  time  with  the  music.  Watch  them  now  and 
realize  what  it  is  going  to  mean  for  the  next  generation.  My 
friend  alluded  to  the  war  as  a  waste.  No ;  we  must  not  let  it 
be  that.  We  are  going  to  learn  from  this.  This  wonderful 
experience  is  going  to  make  us  realize  that  there  is  a  God 
behind  the  men  in  America.  We  can't  live  without  God  and 
without  the  Church.  I  am  sorry  to  confess  that  I  am  afraid 
we  had  grown  to  the  point  where  we  were  so  satisfied  with  our 
wonderful  success,  with  our  wonderful  prosperity,  that  we  almost 
forgot. 

For  months  in  my  great  sorrow  a  little  more  than  two  years 
ago,  I  went  about  New  York,  looking  for  something,  I  scarcely 
knew  what;  I  went  first  to  the  Catholic,  then  to  the  Christian 
Science,  then  to  Doctor  Woelfkin's  church.  I  went  into  every 
church  in  New  York,  and  even  then,  I  learned  something :  that  in 
the  churches  of  New  York  we  have  the  most  wonderful  speakers. 
Why,  it  is  a  liberal  education  to  get  up  on  a  Sunday  morning  and 
hear  these  wonderful  men  in  our  churches;  it  makes  very  little 
difference  what  the  denomination. 

There  is  another  thing  we  have  got  to  learn  from  this  war: 
that  extravagance  has  been  our  national  sin.  Very  well ;  we 
accept  it;  but  it  is  for  us  women  to  learn  to  save  and  save  and 
give  and  give,  and  we  will  all  be  better  for  it.  It  is  going  to 
make  us  more  considerate  of  humanity,  the  world  over.  I  have 
lived  a  good  deal  abroad ;  I  have  had  the  pleasure  of  playing  to 
our  English-speaking  people.  I  would  be  sorry  to  say  that  I  felt 
that  I  have  sometimes  had  more  appreciation  there  than  I 
have  had  in  our  country.  I  know  every  inch  of  France, 
where  our  men  are;  I  know  what  it  means.  We  have  got  to 
learn  that  our  soldiers  have  got  to  deport  themselves  so  that 
we  may  hope  there  will  never  be  another  war. 

Now,  to  do  that,  we  men  and  women,  we  stay-at-homes,  our 
brave,  splendid  men  who  are  past  the  age,  whose  hearts  ache  to 
go  but  must  stay  behind,  what  must  we  do?  We  have  got  to 
work  and  pray  for  those  that  go  ahead.  We  have  got  to  help 
to  teach  those  nations  who  are  our  allies,  that  they  can  rely  on 
us  in  another  way  besides  finance.  We  have  got  to  teach  them 
to  realize  that  we  are  no  longer  a  baby  nation,  but  that  we  are 
grown  up. 

The  night  winds  sweep  o'er  the  fields  of  France 

Where  a  million  dead  men  lie; 
And  a  million  ghastly  faces  there 

Are  mutely  asking  why. 


THE  WOMEN  OF  1918  359 

Why  are  the  heavens  red  with  hate 

From  the  cannons'  angry  flare ; 
Why  must  the  eye  of  the  pitying  Christ 

See  myriads  dying  there? 

Why  from  the  Alps  must  the  snow-fed  streams 

With  brave  men's  blood  run  red ; 
Why  are  the  bodies  of  innocent  babes 

Strewing  the  ocean's  bed? 

What  has  happened,  oh  God,  to  your  beautiful  world, 

Aflame  with  the  fury  of  death; 
What  demon  has  banished  sweet  peace  from  the  earth 

And  loosened  Hell's  withering  breath? 


FOUR:  BY  REVEREND  CORNELIUS  WOELFKIN,  D.D. 

I  think  I  shall  be  able  to  sense  the  fitness  of  things  at  least  by 
telling  you  at  once  that  I  will  not  make  a  speech,  because  any 
word  that  might  be  said  at  this  time  by  one  who  is  a  resident 
of  this  City,  and  especially  one  of  my  sex,  after  these  addresses, 
would  be  in  the  nature  of  an  anti-climax.  Indeed,  I  came  to 
the  meeting  a  bit  under  a  misapprehension  to-day.  Every  new 
experience  teaches  us  something,  and  the  kind  gentleman  who 
invited  me  to  this  feast  sent  me  his  letter  when  I  was  far  away 
from  home,  giving  no  indication  that  I  was  to  make  an  address, 
but  asking  a  telegraphic  acceptance  of  his  invitation,  and  by 
that  request  I  saw  long  waiting  lists  of  those  who  would  be 
most  eager  and  anxious  to  come,  and  I  was  beguiled  and 
immediately  sent  a  telegram  that  I  would  come.  I  did  not  know 
that  I  would  be  in  for  a  speech.  It  is  always  a  dangerous  thing 
to  ask  a  preacher  to  do  it,  because  you  know  we  have  our 
wheatless  days  and  our  meatless  days ;  we  have  had  our  heatless 
days,  and  I  who  travel  on  the  subway  have  always  a  seatless  day, 
and  I  thought  to-day  might  be  added  as  a  speechless  day!  But 
when  a  minister  becomes  tongue-tied,  his  house  burns  up. 

It  is  always  a  bit  dangerous  to  ask  a  man  to  speak  when 
he  does  not  know  the  general  subject.  He  might  be  under  a 
misapprehension.  The  very  day  that  I  got  this  letter  of  invita- 
tion I  was  registered  where  a  native  of  England  was  recruiting 
English-speaking  and  Canadian  subjects,  and  on  that  very  day  a 
man  fifty-three  years  of  age,  of  Irish  extraction,  but  with  a 
body  that  was  about  thirty-two  years  old,  walked  in.  He  was 
a  little  bit  the  worse  for  the  fire-water  that  he  had  drunk.  When 
he  was  accepted,  he  said,  "I  want  to  go  right  away."  "Well," 
they  said,  "when  can  you  arrange  your  affairs?"     "They  are 


360   ONE  HUNDRED  PER  CENT  AMERICAN 

all  arranged;  I  want  to  go  right  away — to-night."  "When  do 
you  want  to  go  across?"  "As  soon  as  I  can."  The  officer 
said,  "Well,  I  pity  the  Germans  when  you  get  across."  "The 
Germans!"  said  he.  "It's  the  dom  English  I'm  after." 

In  a  subject  like  this  one  may  get  on  the  wrong  trail,  and 
it  is  always  a  preacher's  temptation,  at  least,  to  get  on  the  trail 
that  he  thinks  will  be  the  best  paying.  I  was  born  and  brought 
up  in  the  City.  I  was  born  within  three  stones'  throw  of  where 
we  now  are,  and  as  a  boy  I  remember  that  we  used  to  have  a 
little  cross-town  "Jigger-line"  we  called  it,  on  Spring  Street, 
where  there  were  two  cars  that  did  the  entire  traffic,  and  the 
man  who  ran  the  car  had  to  be  conductor  and  driver  and  all. 
One  day  a  new  man  was  engaged  and  he  was  told  by  the  superin- 
tendent, "You  will  have  to  drum  up  trade  there,  because  the 
last  man  has  only  been  bringing  in  about  $1.50  a  day  and  it 
doesn't  pay  to  run  the  car  for  that."  So  he  started  out  and  the 
first  day  he  brought  in  $18.50,  and  the  superintendent  said, 
"Man,  how  did  you  ever  do  it?"  "Oh,"  he  said,  "I  made  two 
trips  on  Spring  Street,  but  that's  the  divil  of  a  slow  line,  so  I 
swung  into  the  Bowery." 

Now,  may  I  say  that  from  the  standpoint  of  the  preacher, 
I  do  not  think  that  I  have  ever  listened  to  three  more  eloquent, 
more  moving,  more  divinely  inspired  addresses  than  we  have 
had  here  this  afternoon.  I  have  a  little  heart-touch  with  some 
of  the  things  that  have  been  spoken  here.  I  could  speak  to  you 
also,  as  did  our  last  speaker,  about  the  soldiers  in  camp,  for  I 
have  been  working  among  them  since  last  summer.  I  have 
seen  those  boys  and  have  tried  to  find  what  is  behind  them.  In 
my  weeks  of  sojourn  at  Camp  Dix  I  have  only  offered  three 
prayers  that  have  not  been  cheered  by  the  boys,  and  that  is  a 
refreshing  experience  for  a  preacher — to  have  a  prayer  cheered 
— but  the  applause  is  always  due  to  the  fact  that  I  asked  those  boys 
first  how  many  of  you  have  mothers  at  home  for  whom  you  would 
give  your  life,  how  many  have  sisters  and  sweethearts  ?"  And  when 
we  have  lifted  them  up  in  prayer,  those  boys  by  that  applause 
practically  said  that  their  lives  were  dedicated  to  the  loyalty  of 
that  tie  which  is  the  tie  that  God  breathes  between  mothers  and 
their  children's  hearts.  Only  last  Sunday,  across  the  river  here 
in  camp,  a  boy  received  his  orders  that  he  was  to  sail  at  two 
o'clock  on  Monday  morning.  At  two  o'clock  in  the  afternoon 
he  made  inquiries  as  to  how  much  it  would  cost  to  telephone  to 
Portland.  Discovering  that  it  would  cost  him  $25.00  on  that 
day,  he  went  out  and  got  one  hundred  silver  quarters,  for  it  was 
a  slot  machine.  He  walked  before  that  booth  from  two  o'clock 
till  six.     He  did  not  go  to  his  meals;  he  stayed  there  until  ten 


THE  WOMEN  OF  1918  361 

o'clock  at  night,  when  he  got  his  answer  and  counted  in  one 
hundred  quarters  into  the  machine.  He  spoke  for  five  minutes 
with  his  mother  and  he  said,  "Thank  God,  I  didn't  go  without 
hearing  her  voice  again."  What  will  a.  lad  like  that  do  when 
he  is  far  away  from  home?  The  instinct  that  manifests  itself 
in  a  symbol  of  that  kind  can  be  trusted. 

I  know  that  we  hear  of  temptations  in  the  camp;  I 
know  that  we  hear  of  the  sins  abroad;  I  know  that  we 
hear  of  a  great  many  lapses  and  a  great  many  failures.  I 
receive  some  letters  that  indicate  them ;  but,  let  me  say  to  you 
that  sin  is  always  the  thing  that  gets  itself  cheaply  advertised; 
the  great  mass  of  virtue  which  outnumbers  it  and  outweighs 
it,  is  too  modest  to  obtrude  itself.  Let  us  not  fail  to  remember 
the  proportion  of  things.  The  boys  will  be  true  and  they  will  be 
strong. 

I  am  so  glad  that  our  women  are  coming  into  a  more 
prominent  place  in  our  political  life.  I  had  a  bit  of  suspicion 
about  this  meeting  to-day.  I  just  wondered  why  the  ladies  were 
invited  to  come  to  the  Republican  Club.  I  just  wondered.  I 
wondered  whether  there  was  going  to  be  a  proposal  and  an 
attempt  at  an  engagement  before  the  meeting  was  over ;  whether 
they  are  going  to  teach  you  how  to  be  politicians  and  how  to  be 
Republicans.  Well,  if  you  are  invited  to  be  Republicans,  ladies, 
don't  you  do  it.  You  flirt  with  them;  you  will  have  a  dandy 
good  time  at  it.  There  is  something  that  goes  out  of  a  com- 
munity after  an  engagement  is  properly  announced.  You  go  to 
the  Democrats — they  need  you !  They  need  a  conversion,  and 
they  need  a  chastisement  which  we  men  have  not  successfully 
given  to  them,  especially  in  our  recent  elections.  And  then, 
there  is  another  good  reason  why  you  ought  to  go  to  the 
Democrats.  I  heard  of  a  schoolmaster  who  asked  three  boys 
whose  politics  he  knew,  their  reasons  for  their  political  faith, 
saying,  "I  caught  a  woodchuck  this  morning  and  the  boy  who 
gives  me  the  best  answer  gets  the  woodchuck."  "Joe,  you  are 
a  Republican.  Why?"  "Because  the  Republicans  saved  this 
country  in  the  great  war  of  1861 ;  that's  why."  "John,  why  are 
you  a  Prohibitionist?"  "Well,  liquor  is  the  worst  thing  in  the 
world,  and  I  want  to  put  it  out."  "Jack,  why  are  you  a  Demo- 
crat?" "I  am  a  Democrat  because  I  want  that  woodchuck." 
Now,  if  you  will  join  the  Democrats  and  get  the  woodchuck, 
you  will  be  all  the  more  welcome  when  you  come  back  again, 
for  at  heart  you  are  Republicans  and  can't  be  anything  else. 

You  are  here  to  take  up  your  new  responsibilities  now;  not 
when  the  war  is  over,  but  in  the  midst  of  war.  It  would  have 
been  most  untimely  if  the  postponement  of  the  suffrage  had  been 


362       ONE  HUNDRED  PER  CENT  AMERICAN 

delayed  beyond  the  time  of  this  war.  This  time  was  ripe  for  it 
now,  when  all  things  are  in  the  crucible.  We  cannot  afford  to 
be  without  that  fine  sentiment  and  that  refined,  divine  spirit  which 
we  have  seen  exhibited  this  afternoon  without  just  this  direct 
touch  on  the  situation ;  and  I  believe  that  many  things  in  this 
world  will  go  by  reason  of  our  good  women  marching  by  our 
side.  They  will  not  do  as  we  men  want  them  to  do ;  they  won't 
simply  be  an  addition;  they  won't  be  a  repetition;  but  they  will 
be  a  new  creative  power  in  the  midst  of  the  world  at  war,  and 
that  creative  power  which  will  become  the  most  immediate  and 
the  most  direct  current  of  the  Spirit  of  God.  I  don't  think  our 
men  will  fail  because  our  women  are  behind  them.  Behind  this 
conscripted  army  that  goes  forth  is  this  army  of  women,  mothers 
and  sisters  and  wives  and  daughters  who  will  pay  the  price,  pay 
it  gladly.  I  know  whereof  I  speak.  I  know  that  there  will  be 
no  murmuring. 

The  earliest  memory  that  is  burned  in  my  little  mind,  that 
came  to  me  as  a  memory  of  three  years  of  age,  was  of  a  man 
in  uniform  going  off  to  war.  Every  drop  of  blood  in  my  veins 
is  German  blood.  My  father  was  born  in  Germany ;  my  mother 
was  born  in  Germany;  but  at  the  first  outbreak  of  the  Civil 
War  my  father  was  one  of  the  first  to  enlist  and  served  his  time. 
In  1863  he  reenlisted,  and  served  his  time  in  the  Southern 
Squadron,  and  when  his  time  was  out  he  did  not  come  home,  but 
stayed  on.  That  boat  went  down,  and  my  father  was  a  martyr 
for  our  American  cause  and  I  never  heard  that  widowed  mother 
murmur  a  word  of  complaint;  but  always  laying  her  hand  on  her 
young  boy's  head  saying  that  she  hoped  that  some  day  I  would 
be  worthy  of  such  a  father,  whether  it  be  in  days  of  war  or  in 
the  days  of  peace. 

And  here  also  may  I  say  that  we  have  a  great  many  people  in 
this  country  who  are  not  only  pro-Germans  but  absolutely  traitors 
to  the  cause,  and  we  ought  to  apprehend  them  and  deal  with  them 
severely  and  justly. 

And  then,  I  cannot  help  but  feel  that  there  are  thousands 
upon  thousands  of  descendants  of  Germans,  like  myself,  whose 
blood  is  red,  white  and  blue  to  the  last  drop. 

Now,  I  am  not  going  on  with  my  speech.  I  had  a  few 
thoughts  put  down,  but  I  am  going  to  let  them  pass.  I  am 
simply  going  to  hope  and  believe  that  we  shall  now  come  to 
the  place  where,  together  with  our  allies,  we  shall  face  our 
responsibility  toward  men,  which  is  a  divine  duty. 

Serbia  and  France  have  struck  the  greatest  blow  for  liberty 
that  ever  human  history  has  known,  and  England  with  her  navy 
has  been  the  salvation  of  our  nation.     We  owe  a  lasting  debt 


THE  WOMEN  OF  1918  363 

of  gratitude  to  those  nations  because  they  have  been  patient  and 
long-suffering  to  understand  us.  It  is  perfectly  natural  that  we 
should  be  so  slow.  We  sometimes  say  it  was  tragic  that  there 
was  no  readiness  on  the  part  of  the  Allies  for  the  war.  From 
the  idealistic  and  spiritual  and  religious  standpoint,  I  say  it  is 
forever  to  the  credit  of  England,  France  and  America  that  they 
were  not  ready  for  the  war.  It  showed  that  our  hope  and 
aspiration  had  got  far  beyond  the  thought  of  any  war ;  but  since 
now  we  are  in  the  war,  we  are  in  together. 

The  hour  is  come  now  for  America  to  bear  her  cross. 
Our  day  of  suffering  is  coming  upon  us.  "As  our  day, 
so  shall  our  strength  be."  God  will  keep  us  in  the  midst 
of  it;  God  will  keep  us  through  it;  and  God  will  help  us 
to  give  a  better  world  to  our  children.  If  the  Hun  wins  this 
war,  the  world  is  not  going  to  be  worth  living  in,  and  I  would 
rather  die  trying  to  get  rid  of  the  Hun  than  to  live  and  survive 
and  see  his  victory.  Let  us  believe  in  this  matter  that  we  are 
allies  of  God ;  that  it  is  the  cross  of  our  Lord  and  Saviour  who 
gave  Himself  for  humanity  that  goes  before  us,  and  that  in  this 
war  we  are  bearing  His  cross. 

In  the  meantime,  let  us  not  deceive  ourselves  with  any  false 
hopes.  There  is  a  verse  from  the  Holy  Scriptures  that  ought 
to  be  burned  into  the  heart  of  America  to-day,  above  every 
other  verse  of  the  Old  Testament,  and  that  is  this,  the  rebuke 
which  comes  against  those  which  say  "Peace,  peace,  when  there 
is  no  peace."  This  is  no  time  for  peace.  This  is  a  time  for  war. 
The  time  for  peace  will  be  when  we  have  broken  the  power  of 
iniquity  with  the  help  of  our  God  and  when  there  has  been 
righteous  punishment  laid  upon  the  people  who  have  shattered  all 
the  foundations  of  righteousness  and  truth.  Then  may  we  talk  of 
peace ;  but  until  then  peace  ought  to  be  obsolete  for  the  time  being. 
And  while  we  do  that,  let  us  remember  that  God  looks  to  us  to 
do  our  part.  I  am  being  asked  by  people  daily,  "Why  does  not 
God  end  the  war?  Why  do  so  many  prayers  go  up  to  the  Al- 
mighty and  yet  this  awful,  horrible  war  with  all  that  it  involves 
drags  on  ?"  I  have  no  better  answer  than  that  given  in  a  little  poem 
that  was  written  by  Robert  Underwood  Johnson,  sometime  editor 
of  the  "Century,"  which  I  would  like  to  quote  in  closing.  It  is  a 
poem  which  is  entitled  "The  Answer  of  the  Lord." 

"How  long,  O  Lord,  how  long" — 

A  myriad  voices  cry — 
"Shall  wanton  powers  of  wrong 

Thy  sacred  laws  defy? 


364   ONE  HUNDRED  PER  CENT  AMERICAN 

The  dead  are  like  the  sand, 

And  woe  and  misery 
The  sea  bears  to  the  land, 

The  rivers  to  the  sea. 

"The  innocent  are  slain 

At  Mercy's  bolted  door; 
The  infant's  wail  is  vain, 

For  pity  is  no  more. 
When  shall  the  ruin  cease 

And  Thou  confound  the  strong? 
Till  the  white   days   of  peace 

How  long,  O  Lord,  how  long?" 

"How  long,  O  men,  how  long, 

Lift  ye  weak  hands  to  me 
To  rid  you  of  great  wrong? 

For  this  I  left  you  free. 
A  million  years  have  gone 

To  grow  the  perfect  flower; 
I  reared  you  from  the  spawn 

To  fit  you  for  this  hour. 

"I  took  you  from  the  ooze 

Ere  yet  man  measured  time; 
I  gave  you  mind,  to  choose; 

I  gave  you  soul,  to  climb. 
I  willed  you  unafraid 

Of  all, — nay,  more:  that  ye, 
Though  in  Mine  image  made, 

Should  not  be  slaves  of  Me. 

"I  gave  you  Law,  to  guide, 

That  needed  not  My  hand; 
With  Reason,  to  decide, 

And  Conscience,  to  command. 
Ye  are  not  beast  or  tree; 

Ye  are  not  stone  or  clod; 
Your  upward  path  is  free, 

Ye  are  the  sons  of  God. 

"And  shall  ye  then  descend 

From  your  divine  estate 
The  craven  neck  to  bend 

And  call  the  yoke  your  fate? 
Wake  from  the  sloth  of  night 

And  drain  life's  precious  bowl! 
The  hour  has  come  to  smite, 

Or  lose  a  people's  soul. 

"Think  not  that  I  am  dumb, 
Though  ye  be  long  withstood; 

Ye  serve  an  age  to  come 
Who  war  for  brotherhood. 


THE  WOMEN  OF  1918  365 

Delay  not  to  release 

The  arrow  from  its  yew: 
I,  who  am  God  of  Peace, 

Am  God  of  Battle,  too. 

"Then  lift  ye  up  staunch  hearts, 

Make  strong  your  hands  of  skill, 
And  by  your  righteous  arts 

Be  partners  of  My  will. 
Your  breath,  by  Me  endowed, 

If  need  give  back  again, 
That  I  once  more  be  proud 

That  I  have  made  you  men." 


ELEVENTH   DISCUSSION 

MARCH   SIXTEENTH,    I918 
FIGHTING  THE  DRAGON 


FIGHTING  THE  DRAGON 


ONE:     BY  SAMUEL  HARDEN  CHURCH 

President,  Carnegie  Institute 

Once  I  saw  in  the  British  Museum  the  manuscript  of  the  very 
first  piece  of  literature  which  came  to  break  the  intellectual 
darkness  of  England — the  story  of  Beowulf,  who  came  into  a 
country  not  his  own  and  saved  the  lives  of  the  people  by  slaying 
the  dragon,  but  losing  his  own  life  in  the  battle.  That  is  the 
splendid  mission  of  America — to  go  into  a  country  not  her  own 
and  save  the  lives  of  the  people  by  slaying  a  dragon,  and  if  in 
doing  that  she  is  required  to  sacrifice  a  part  of  her  own  life — 
as  indeed  she  has  already  done — why  then  I  believe  that  the 
scriptural  promise  is  true  of  nations  as  of  individuals,  "He  that 
loseth  his  life  shall  find  it." 

I  heard  a  distinguished  man  say  the  other  day  that  this  is  a 
war  of  ideas,  that  it  is  a  war  between  the  two  systems,  autocracy 
and  democracy.  I  think  that  man  was  wrong.  Whenever  you 
say  that  it  is  a  war  of  ideas,  you  make  it  a  matter  of  choice, 
and  you  give  ground  to  the  pro-German,  the  slacker  and  the 
pacifist  to  say  that  they  are  halting  between  two  opinions.  It 
is  not  a  war  of  ideas.  It  is  a  war  caused  by  the  fact  that 
Germany  has  invaded  Belgium  and  France  and  entered  upon  an 
international  debauch  of  murder,  outrage  and  plunder.  There 
is  no  conflict  of  ideas  in  that  situation,  and  the  civilized  nations 
of  the  globe  have  combined  their  forces  of  manhood  and  chivalry 
and  they  are  saying :  "We  are  going  to  drive  you  out  of  Belgium 
and  out  of  France  and  make  you  pay  the  bill  I"  and  when  we  say 
"out  of  France"  we  mean  out  of  Alsace  and  Lorraine. 

America  is  in  this  war  because  she  was  directly  attacked 
by  Germany.  Her  ships  were  sunk,  her  foreign  trade  was  de- 
stroyed, her  territory  was  threatened  with  partition,  her  industrial 
plants  were  blown  up,  her  people  were  murdered,  and  all  this 
and  much  else  furnished  the  immediate  justification  to  take  her 
part  in  the  strife.  She  is  on  the  battle  line  in  France  because  if 
she  were  not  there  her  battle  line  would  be  New  York  in  less 
than  six  months.  But  I  like  to  think,  and  so  do  you,  that 
notwithstanding   these  particular   grievances   our   country   was 

369 


370       ONE  HUNDRED  PER  CENT  AMERICAN 

really  moved  to  action  by  the  higher  call  to  human  service  in 
the  world's  task  of  saving  civilization  from  those  who  are  assault- 
ing its  foundations.  But  while  your  boy  and  mine  are  carrying 
the  flag  in  France,  let  us  see  to  it  that  there  is  no  weakening  in 
the  spirit  of  the  nation  at  home,  from  which  those  boys  draw 
their  fortitude  just  as  surely  as  they  drew  their  milk  from  their 
precious  mothers  a  few  short  years  ago.  We  have  lately  had 
the  story  in  the  papers  of  four  American  soldiers  sentenced  to 
death  for  sleeping  at  their  posts.  Now  if  an  American  soldier 
is  going  to  be  shot  for  going  to  sleep  at  his  post  and  endangering 
the  front,  we  should  demand  that  every  German  spy  and  prop- 
agandist shall  be  shot  for  endangering  the  rear.  The  other 
day  a  deserter  from  the  Army  said  that  he  had  been 
corrupted  from  his  loyalty  by  reading  Senator  La  Follette's 
speech.  The  boy  was  sent  to  prison,  and  the  man  who  cor- 
rupted him  ought  to  be  expelled  from  the  United  States  Senate 
as  a  public  nuisance. 

We  can  never  overcome  the  foe  in  front  unless  we  shall 
effectively  restrain  the  foe  at  the  rear.  The  test  of  loyalty  is  a 
simple  one.  There  are  no  longer  any  German-Americans.  That 
name  is  dead  forever.  They  are  either  Germans  or  they  are 
Americans.  No  man  cherishes  a  higher  regard  than  I  do  for 
those  American  citizens  of  German  birth  or  German  parentage 
who  are  truly  able  to  unite  their  love  for  our  flag  with  their 
detestation  of  this  German  outrage.  There  are  millions  of 
former  Germans  in  this  country  who  are  now  fully  absorbed, 
heart,  soul  and  language,  into  the  great  body  of  Americanism. 
I  know  hundreds  of  such  men  in  Pittsburgh,  and  you  have 
hundreds  of  them  here  in  New  York — like  Mr.  Franz  Sigel, 
Mr.  Jacob  H.  Schiff,  Mr.  Otto  H.  Kahn  and  the  society  known 
as  "The  Friends  of  German  Democracy" — men  of  such  probity 
and  honor  all  through  our  nation  that  we  would  trust  them  to 
hold  control  of  the  chief  citadel  against  the  Kaiser  himself. 
A  good  many  years  ago  I  had  the  honor  of  meeting  Carl  Schurz, 
at  Deer  Park,  Md.,  and  that  gifted  man,  whose  name  is  illustrious 
in  American  history,  came  over  to  a  group  of  us  young  men 
where  we  were  seated  under  the  cool  shade  of  a  great  oak  tree, 
and  after  shaking  hands  with  a  cordiality  which  became  to  each 
one  a  living  memory,  pointed  to  the  flag  over  the  hotel  and  told 
us  that  we  should  feel  grateful  in  our  hearts  that  we  were  all 
citizens  in  a  country  where  liberty  had  free  existence,  as  it  has 
been  his  own  unhappy  fate  to  be  driven  out  of  Germany  because 
of  the  tyranny  of  feudal  system,  and  that  there  would  be 
no  liberty  for  the  German  people  until  that  feudal  system  was 
destroyed.     I  wish  that  the  former  countrymen  of  that  former 


FIGHTING  THE  DRAGON  371 

German  would  absorb  this  doctrine  into  their  secret  souls,  for 
the  German  government  is  more  autocratic  to-day  than  when 
it  drove  Carl  Schurz  into  exile  and  executed  thousands  of  his 
associates  who  had  attempted  to  reform  it. 

But  there  are  other  Germans  in  this  country  who,  whether 
they  are  naturalized  or  not,  can  never  be  anything  but  Germans 
in  heart,  soul  and  language,  and  we  detest  these  people  because 
they  are  not  only  false  to  America,  which  they  have  chosen  so 
that  they  and  their  descendants  may  live  a  larger  and  freer  life, 
but  because  they  are  false  to  that  better  Germany  which  their 
fathers  tried  to  create,  and  failing  to  create  came  to  this  country 
in  order  to  enjoy  the  liberty  which  was  denied  to  them  in 
Germany.  The  revelations  which  have  just  now  been  made 
before  the  Congressional  Committee  in  regard  to  the  German- 
American  Alliance  shows  that  this  spirit  of  Germanism  is  an 
insidious  and  constant  poison  in  the  heart  of  our  nation.  Mr. 
Theodore  Sutro,  of  New  York  City,  gave  expression  to  the  soul 
of  this  faithless  citizenship  when  he  testified  that  the  song 
"Deutschland  Uber  Alles"  means  that  Germans  are  over  all 
other  countries  in  their  devotion  to  Germany.  I  think  you  will 
remember  that  the  first  manifestation  of  this  German  poison  in 
our  national  life  occurred  about  twenty-five  years  ago  when 
Cahensley,  a  member  of  the  German  Parliament,  proposed  that 
all  emigrants  to  the  United  States  should  be  preserved  in  their 
native  languages,  customs,  religions  and  manners  and  not 
nationalized  into  the  real  citizenship  of  the  American  people.  A 
very  courageous  and  far-seeing  statesman,  a  dear  friend  of  mine, 
Cushman  K.  Davis,  from  Minnesota,  attacked  that  proposition 
in  the  United  States  Senate,  giving  it  the  name  of  Cahensleyism, 
a  word  which  you  will  find  in  the  Century  Dictionary  accredited 
to  him  as  its  coiner,  and  his  speech  upset  that  plan  in  so  far  as 
it  was  intended  to  be  an  open  campaign.  But  the  snake  was  only 
scotched,  not  killed.  The  iniquitous  principle  of  the  double 
sovereignty  has  enabled  Germany  to  keep  a  deathless  grip  upon 
the  loyalty  of  thousands  of  her  former  citizens  who  have  been 
naturalized  in  this  country,  and  when  the  hour  of  our  danger 
arrives  and  we  find  ourselves  attacked,  these  children  of  our 
adoption  turn  against  us  in  faithless  allegiance  varying  in  degree 
all  the  way  from  sullen  hatred  to  active  sedition,  riot  and  murder. 

Another  source  of  constant  danger  is  the  German  newspapers 
which  are  published  in  this  country.  In  New  York  you  have 
the  StaatsZeltung.  One  of  its  editors,  Mr.  Bernard  H.  Ridder, 
came  to  Pittsburgh  a  year  or  more  ago  and  did  me  the  honor  to 
challenge  me  to  a  public  debate  on  the  righteousness  of  Germany's 
cause,  and  he  offered  to  pay  all  the  expenses  of  the  enterprise. 


372   ONE  HUNDRED  PER  CENT  AMERICAN 

I  hope  it  is  needless  to  say  that  the  debate  never  took  place.  But 
soon  afterwards  the  State  Department  at  Washington  made  its 
revelations  of  the  Bernstorfl  expenditures,  and  you  will  remem- 
ber that  $20,000  of  this  propaganda  fund  was  paid  to  the 
Ridders.  Since  that  time  Mr.  Ridder  has  repeatedly  and  sneer- 
ingly  attacked  Colonel  Roosevelt,  James  M.  Beck  and  other 
earnest  citizens  as  firebrands  and  fools  whenever  they  have 
spoken  for  our  country.  Mr.  Viereck's  paper  was  excluded  from 
the  mails  last  week  because  it  printed  a  seditious  article.  In 
Pittsburgh  we  have  a  German  newspaper  which  has  recently 
declared  that  the  Declaration  of  Independence  ought  to  be 
burned  by  the  common  hangman,  and  I  have  within  these  past 
few  days  seen  a  letter  from  the  editor  of  that  paper,  Mr.  George 
Seibel,  protesting  against  the  use  of  the  word  "Huns"  as  com- 
monly applied  to  the  German  people.  So  it  goes  with  these 
German  newspapers  all  over  the  land.  They  are  at  present  held 
in  a  sullen  and  malignant  restraint  by  the  new  law  which  their 
own  treasonable  conduct  made  it  necessary  to  enact.  But  while 
moving  now  with  due  caution  they  all  show  an  ill-disguised  wish 
that  Germany  shall  win  this  war.  Who  has  ever  read  one  word 
of  denunciation  of  German  outlawry  in  any  of  these  publications? 
The  German  diplomat  who  telegraphed  his  government  to  sink 
the  Argentine  ships  and  leave  no  trace,  was  criticized  by  the 
German  newspapers  in  this  country  not  because  of  his  infamous 
plan,  fully  approved  in  Berlin,  to  murder  the  crews  and  passen- 
gers of  a  nation  with  which  his  country  was  at  peace,  but  because 
his  correspondence  was  intercepted  and  printed.  The  Bible  takes 
the  measure  of  these  men  and  all  men  like  them  when  it  declares, 
"As  a  man  thinketh  in  his  heart,  so  is  he."  There  is  but  one 
safe  course  for  the  Government  to  take,  and  that  is  to  suspend 
all  these  German  language  newspapers  for  the  period  of  the  war, 
and  until  they  are  suspended  each  community  should  require 
as  a  mark  of  loyalty  that  no  American  who  seeks  to  be  respected 
by  his  neighbors  shall  either  read  them  or  advertise  in  them. 

This  war  has  shown  us  that  we  should  love  our  country  better 
than  anything  in  this  world  except  humanity,  and  we  should 
love  humanity  best  because  our  country  is  a  part  of  humanity. 
This  is  a  lesson  which  has  come  to  my  own  mind  since  the 
outbreak  of  this  war,  but  I  verily  believe  the  principle  I  am 
trying  to  express  gives  us  a  correct  interpretation  of  the  parable 
of  the  Good  Samaritan  which  was  told  two  thousand  years  ago, 
in  order  that  we  men  in  America  might  be  taught  that  every 
other  man  in  the  world  who  needs  our  help,  whether  he  lives  in 
France  or  Belgium  or  China  or  the  heart  of  Africa,  is  just  as 
much  our  neighbor  as  the  man  who  lives  next  door  to  us.     It 


FIGHTING  THE  DRAGON  373 

is  the  German  people's  lack  of  understanding  of  this  fundamental 
principle  which  has  brought  the  war  upon  us.  No  German  ever 
talks  about  humanity  except  with  contempt,  and  the  German 
Emperor  in  one  of  his  speeches  has  said  that  when  he  surveys 
the  human  family  his  vision  ends  with  the  boundary  of  the 
German  Empire.  The  spread  of  this  feeling  of  true  brotherhood 
throughout  the  world  will  wipe  away  the  bigoted  conception  of 
nationality  and  the  provoking  restrictions  of  geography  which 
have  up  to  this  time  been  sufficiently  strong  to  array  every 
community  against  every  other  community. 

It  is  frightful  to  contemplate  the  continued  existence  of  the 
German  Empire  as  it  stands  to-day — "a  Thing,"  says  President 
Wilson  in  speaking  of  it,  "a  Thing  without  conscience  or  honor 
or  capacity  for  covenanted  peace."  Why?  Because  its  only 
guiding  power  is  military  force.  It  is  frightful  to  think  that 
there  exists  in  the  heart  of  the  world  a  military  power  which  has 
declared  with  a  thousand  articulate  and  vociferous  voices  that 
it  intends  to  subjugate  the  whole  of  Europe  in  this  war.  The 
leading  purpose  in  this  world  conquest  is  to  enslave  and  not  to 
elevate  the  people  who  dwell  in  the  peaceful  territories  of  her 
neighbors.  Is  proof  needed  ?  Take  Alsace  and  Lorraine.  During 
the  fifty  years  of  German  occupation  not  one  word  of  benevolent 
interest  in  the  welfare  of  those  hapless  children  of  old  France 
has  been  uttered  by  Germany.  She  has  ruled  them  as  she  is  now 
ruling  Belgium  and  northern  France — with  her  mailed  fist.  She 
has  not  even  permitted  them  to  speak  their  own  language  or 
sing  their  own  songs.  When  a  lame  Alsatian  shoemaker  looked 
askance  at  a  troop  of  German  soldiers,  the  officer  drew  his 
sword  and  cut  the  poor  man  through  the  shoulder,  and  the 
Crown  Prince  of  Germany  telegraphed  to  that  poltroon  that 
he  had  done  a  noble  act  of  chivalry  in  assaulting  the  cripple. 
Let  me  show  you  a  contrast  between  a  civilized  and  humane 
nation  and  a  nation  which  Goethe  characterized  as  ferocious 
brutes.  When  this  war  began  there  came  the  test  of  British 
civilization.  It  was  a  good  time  for  England's  colonies  to 
cut  loose  and  leave  her  to  fight  her  own  battle.  She  had  no 
power  to  coerce  one  man  outside  of  her  own  little  island  king- 
dom. What  was  the  result?  You  have  seen  that  picture  in 
"Punch"  where  the  British  Lion  stands  on  a  mound  emitting  a 
roar  which  only  a  lion  can  emit,  a  roar  which  comes  from  the 
depths  of  his  nature,  and  from  every  quarter  of  the  globe  his 
cubs  respond — Australia,  New  Zealand,  Canada,  India,  Egypt. 
How  was  it  with  Germany  ?  When  the  first  blast  of  war  blew  on 
our  ears,  when  Germany  had  been  ruling  those  French  provinces 
for  half  a  century,  fifty  thousand  of  the  men  of  Alsace  and 


374       ONE  HUNDRED  PER  CENT  AMERICAN 

Lorraine  gave  up  home  and  property  and  fled  across  the  border 
to  range  themselves  under  the  only  flag  their  hearts  could  ever 
recognize,  the  ancient  oriflamme  of  France.  Not  a  man  who 
could  escape  the  impressment  would  fight  for  Germany.  And 
take  England  once  more.  She  had  conquered  South  Africa  and 
given  the  Boers  a  complete  liberty  and  self-government  of  which 
they  had  never  dreamed  in  the  days  of  their  own  tyrant,  Paul 
Kreuger.  But  here  was  their  chance  to  revolt.  Did  they  take 
it?  When  they  saw  peril  approaching  that  precious  heritage  of 
human  government  which  has  been  expanding  itself  throughout 
the  world  from  the  day  when  the  Mighty  Charter  was  established 
on  British  soil  at  Runnymede  the  last  Boer  turned  from  his 
farm  and  his  mine  and  joined  the  fight  for  liberty  under  the 
British  flag. 

And  how  is  it  with  France  ?  If  it  is  ever  possible  that  all  the 
nations  of  the  world  can  be  assembled  on  some  Elysian  Field 
where  a  divine  Commander-in-Chief  shall  ask,  "Which  among 
these  nations  has  in  ancient  or  modern  times  shown  the  most 
valor,  sacrifice  and  suffering  ?"  I  am  sure  that  all  mankind  with 
one  voice  will  respond.  "It  is  France !"  We  can  say  of  her  now, 
as  Shakespeare  said  of  her  in  the  time  of  King  John,  "France, 
whose  armor  conscience  buckled  on,  whom  zeal  and  charity 
brought  to  the  field,  as  God's  own  soldier." 

I  confess  that  I  do  not  quite  understand  Mr.  Taft's  plan  for  a 
League  to  Enforce  Peace  after  this  war  is  ended.  Suppose  we 
were  to  have  such  a  league  at  the  end  of  the  war  and  that  Ger- 
many should  then  make  another  attack — this  Germany  which 
President  Wilson  says  is  without  conscience  or  honor  or  capacity 
for  covenanted  peace  ?  Would  we  not  be  precisely  where  we  are 
now  ?  Is  it  not  a  fact  that  we  have  already  formed  ourselves  into 
a  League  to  Enforce  Peace  and  that  our  sole  purpose  is  now,  as 
it  would  be  then,  to  restrain  Germany  from  murdering  her  neigh- 
bors? We  have  formed  that  League,  but  we  have  not  gone  far 
enough.  In  trying  to  tread  the  path  of  honor,  with  Shakespeare 
says  is  so  narrow  that  but  one  can  walk  abreast,  we  have  lacked 
determination  and  insistence.  We  have  not  been  bold  enough 
in  our  plans.  We  must  now  carry  our  organization  into  magni- 
tudes which  no  man  has  yet  thought  of. 

The  question  now  is  whether  Japan  shall  move  by  land  against 
Germany  in  the  Far  East.  That  brings  up  Russia.  Everybody 
has  a  profound  sympathy  for  Russia.  The  trouble  there  is  that 
the  people  of  Russia  have  been  held  through  all  these  centuries 
in  a  pitiable  ignorance  and  superstition.  The  illiteracy  there  is 
more  than  eighty  per  cent  of  the  total  population,  and  when  they 
have  overthrown  an  oppressive  and  corrupt  government  by  revolu- 


FIGHTING  THE  DRAGON  375 

tion  it  is  a  moving  and  pathetic  sight  to  see  them  without  knowl- 
edge or  experience  or  the  capacity  to  form  a  government  go  plung- 
ing every  day  deeper  and  deeper  into  the  abyss  of  civil  strife  and 
general  anarchy.  Great  things  were  hoped  for  from  Mr.  Keren- 
sky.  But  the  task  was  too  large  for  him — possibly  it  was  too 
large  for  any  other  man.  Then  came  Lenine  and  Trotzky.  We 
do  not  know  yet  whether  they  are  incompetent  dreamers  or  cor- 
rupt German  agents,  but  we  do  know  that  they  have  wrought  the 
complete  disintegration  of  Russia.  Just  think  of  it!  When 
France  was  looking  for  a  military  genius  worthy  to  succeed  the 
mighty  Joffre,  and  when  England  was  retiring  Sir  John  French 
in  order  to  put  the  best  soldier  in  the  Empire  at  the  front,  Lenine 
and  Trotzky  reduced  their  trained  officers  to  the  ranks  and 
elevated  a  ranting  youth  who  had  never  seen  service  to  be  gen- 
eralissimo. Is  it  any  wonder  that  the  Russian  army  fell  away  like 
a  rope  of  sand?  But  somewhere  in  Russia  there  are  many  mil- 
lions of  people  who  represent  the  best  progress  of  that  race  and 
who  stand  ready,  as  quickly  as  a  capable  leader  can  force  his  way 
to  the  front,  to  establish  a  government  which  shall  maintain  law 
and  order,  and  in  the  best  way  preserve  the  Revolution  for  the 
good  of  the  whole  population.  In  the  meantime,  the  fear  lest 
we  may  give  these  crafty  Russian  adventurers,  Lenine  and  Trotz- 
ky, an  excuse  to  unite  their  disrupted  forces  with  Germany  is 
holding  back  our  statesmen  from  employing  the  almost  inexhaust- 
ible military  resources  of  Japan  and  China  in  this  mighty  task  of 
our  League  to  Enforce  Peace.  Don't  let  us  forget  Lloyd  George's 
declaration  of  two  years  ago :  "We  are  always  too  late !"  Don't 
let  us  forget  that  while  we  constantly  hesitate  and  thereby  lose 
every  advantage,  Germany  works  ceaselessly  with  her  military 
forces,  her  corruption  funds,  and  her  sleepless  propaganda  to 
win  the  war.  Mr.  Taft  said  in  Pittsburgh  the  other  day,  that  he 
wants  an  American  army  of  five  millions.  That  is  the  right  way 
to  start.  But  we  must  do  more.  We  must  organize  the  world 
in  its  remotest  parts  in  this  fight  to  restrain  the  outlaw.  Let  us 
induce  Japan  and  China  to  come  in  with  their  fullest  force.  We 
know  that  they  will  come  with  clean  hands  and  a  pure  heart. 
In  calling  Japan  at  a  critical  hour  we  mean  to  save  Russia  from 
shameful  and  complete  dismemberment  and  to  start  her  upon  that 
slow  process  of  uplift  which  can  be  reached  not  in  the  first  stroke 
of  revolt  but  only  in  the  lengthened  flight  of  years.  As  to  Japan, 
there  is  something  to  be  said,  although  not  on  this  occasion,  con- 
cerning Japanese  immigration.  It  is  enough  to  say  now  that  we 
cannot  hold  Japan  in  the  permanent  bonds  of  a  confiding  friend- 
ship, as  we  should  profoundly  desire  to  do,  while  we  shut  the  gates 
of  hospitality  against  her  people. 


376   ONE  HUNDRED  PER  CENT  AMERICAN 

And  in  the  employment  of  force  against  Germany  we  should 
not  stop  with  Japan  and  China.  We  need  every  ounce  of  hitting 
power  which  the  world  can  give  us.  There  is  India  with  her 
enormous  resources,  loyal  and  ready  to  play  a  great  part.  Brazil 
should  be  encouraged  to  move  her  army  and  navy  at  once  to 
Europe;  and  so  should  every  other  nation  either  great  or  small 
who  has  thus  far  joined  our  League — Panama  and  Cuba  among 
them.  And  with  those  nations  which  still  are  neutral  let  us  plead 
the  cause  of  humanity  to  induce  them  to  take  their  part — Argen- 
tina and  all  the  others  on  this  side,  and  those  six  powers  still  at 
peace  in  Europe — Spain,  Denmark,  Norway,  Sweden,  Holland 
and  Switzerland — who  have  been  so  brutally  abused  by  Germany, 
Norway  alone  having  had  eight  hundred  of  her  ships  sunk  and 
more  than  five  thousand  of  her  citizens  murdered  without  a  trace 
on  the  high  seas.  Then  shall  we  have  all  the  banners  of  civiliza- 
tion floating  together  on  those  battle  fronts  both  west  and  east  of 
Germany,  and  we  shall  soon  crush  her  into  submission. 

And  after  that  the  judgment.  I  am  not  preaching  any  gospel 
of  hate,  but  I  am  preaching  a  gospel  of  punishment  and  expiation. 
The  group  of  men  who  made  this  war  should  be  brought  to  trial 
and  execution.  And  then  will  come  the  creatures  who  so  glee- 
fully did  the  foul  work.  When  we  seek  a  phrase  to  express  our 
abhorrence  of  these  people  we  must  go  back  to  a  spiritual  and 
intellectual  Germany  that  is  dead  and  gone  and  find  their  con- 
demnation in  their  own  greatest  prophet:  "The  Prussian,"  said 
Goethe,  "is  cruel  by  birth ;  civilization  will  make  him  ferocious." 
And  that  is  true.  He  has  indeed  become  ferocious.  The  pro- 
Germans  are  excusing  all  the  German  atrocities  on  the  plea  that 
such  outrages  are  natural  to  a  state  of  war.  They  are  not  natural 
to  a  state  of  war  with  anybody  but  the  Germans.  Let  us  give 
you  a  contrast.  Women  have  been  the  especial  prey  of  the  Ger- 
man, both  officers  and  private  soldiers,  from  the  very  beginning 
of  the  war.  Ambassador  Penfield  and  Madame  Carrell  have  told 
us  of  their  personal  knowledge  of  these  outrages  at  Noyon  and 
other  rescued  cities,  and  of  the  beastly  and  degenerate  ferocity 
which  has  marked  them.  Lord  Bryce  gives  a  horrible  story  of 
the  forced  assembling  of  a  group  of  good  women  in  the  public 
square  of  the  city  of  Liege  where  the  German  officers  and  men  in 
an  orgy  of  lust  and  in  the  gaze  of  the  whole  population  subjected 
them  to  the  last  indignity  that  can  be  put  upon  womanhood.  That 
is  the  ogre's  conception  of  frightfulness  when  it  is  commanded 
unto  him  by  the  Great  General  Staff.  But  how  is  it  in  the  Ameri- 
can army?  Since  our  troops  arrived  in  Europe  there  has  been 
one,  and  only  one,  case  of  outrage,  and  the  soldier  was  not  shot — 
he  was  immediately  hanged.    That  is  the  thing  against  which  the 


FIGHTING  THE  DRAGON  377 

world  is  fighting — that  spirit  of  the  German  people  to  conquer, 
destroy,  ravish,  and  kill  everything  that  is  not  German.  That 
spirit  exists  in  an  abundant  and  malignant  plenitude  here  in  New 
York,  it  exists  all  over  America,  it  faces  us  on  the  French  battle 
front,  and  it  will  continue  to  fill  the  world  with  horror  until  we 
say  to  it :  "You  damned  assassin,  we  have  you  by  the  throat,  and 
we  are  going  to  keep  a  strangle  hold  on  you  until  we  cast  out  this 
devil  from  your  soul !" 

Oh,  my  friends,  this  bloodshed  will  have  been  in  vain  if  we 
are  going  to  add  reconciliation  to  peace  without  the  penitence  of 
the  criminal.  Von  Bissing  says  there  must  be  no  reconciliation 
but  only  a  rest  in  order  to  prepare  for  the  next  war.  Von  Freytag, 
their  Deputy  Chief  of  the  Great  General  Staff,  has  published  a 
book  within  this  last  month  saying  the  same  thing.  Even  while 
von  Hertling  was  making  his  adroit  speech  in  avoidance  of  peace 
in  the  Reichstag,  General  von  Liebert  was  giving  utterance  to 
the  real  mind  of  Germany  in  these  words :  "We  hold  that  Might 
is  Right.  We  will  incorporate  Courland  and  bring  into  our  own 
population  60,000,000  Russians.  We  must  have  Belgium  and  the 
north  of  France.  The  curse  of  God  is  upon  the  French  people; 
let  us  consider  ourselves  fortunate  that  he  has  separated  us  from 
that  people  which  is  as  ungodly  as  it  is  infamous.  The  Portuguese 
colonial  possessions  must  disappear.  France  must  be  made  to  pay 
until  she  is  bled  white."  The  Emperor  says  that  he  will  have  no 
peace  until  with  bloody  fist  he  has  crushed  his  victims  to  the  earth. 
He  wants  no  reconciliation.  Neither  should  we.  Let  us  show 
Germany  by  a  hundred  years  of  social  and  commercial  ostracism 
that  her  crime  is  beyond  forgiveness  until  her  children's  children 
beg  for  it  with  contrite  hearts.  And  in  the  meantime  mobilizing 
without  further  delay  all  the  resources  of  our  civilization,  let  us 
develop  and  press  forward  with  our  holy  crusade  until  we  shall 
have  rescued  Belgium  and  France  and  Italy  and  all  the  oppressed 
countries  from  the  grasp  of  the  Barbarian,  and  established  the 
world  upon  the  foundations  of  righteousness,  so  that  liberty  shall 
walk  unafraid  and  leaning  upon  the  arm  of  law. 


TWO:    BY  RABBI  STEPHEN  S.  WISE 

I  do  not  wish  to  begin  my  address  by  launching  into  any  differ- 
ence with  the  gentleman  who  has  preceded  me,  for  I  agree  with 
nine-tenths  of  what  he  has  said.  I  do,  however,  believe,  and  I  do 
not  wish  to  omit  to  say  that  I  hope  that  we  Americans  are  going 
to  make  up  our  minds  that,  if  Russia  needs  military  help  and  sup- 


378   ONE  HUNDRED  PER  CENT  AMERICAN 

port  in  the  East  that  help  will  come  from  Japan  and  from  us  to- 
gether, and  that  no  foreign  army,  whether  our  own  or  Japan's, 
is  to  be  forced  on  Russia.  The  one  thing  we  must  not  for  a 
moment  suffer  the  Russian  people  to  believe  is  that  we,  too,  are 
bent  on  Russian  spoliation  and  dismemberment.  We  are  the 
friends  of  Russia  and  of  Russian  freedom,  and  if  we  have  the 
courage  to  trust  the  President  of  the  United  States  as  we  ought 
to  do  and  follow  our  own  best  and  most  unselfish  judgment,  we 
are  going  to  keep  the  Russian  people  as  our  friends. 

The  question  is  not  one  of  offending  either  Japan  or  Russia. 
Russia  best  knows  whether  she  needs  help.  If  she  refuse  foreign 
help,  we  may  not  insist  on  forcing  upon  her  either  our  own  or 
Japan's  help.  I  trust  that  the  Russian  people — not  Germany's 
agents  in  Russia, — will  understand  that  Japan  is  a  friend,  that 
we  are  the  best  of  her  friends,  and  that  the  time  may  not  be  far 
distant  when  on  the  Western  front — I  mean  the  reconstructed 
Western  front  of  Russia, — Germany  will  be  met  and  overwhelmed 
by  the  forces  of  Russia,  Japan  and  the  United  States. 

The  easiest  thing  in  time  of  war  is  peace-mongering. 
I  go  back  to  a  gentleman  of  my  own  race  who,  speak- 
ing with  withering  scorn,  referred  twenty-five  hundred 
years  ago  to  them  that  cry  "Peace,  Peace,  when  there  is 
no  peace."  Some  men  to-day  in  this  land,  as  in  all  Allied  lands, 
are  devoting  themselves  to  the  dubious  business  of  peace-monger- 
ing. Any  man  who  to-day  uses  the  word  "Peace"  can  find  an  aud- 
ience and  gain  some  kind  of  a  hearing,  can  command  some  manner 
of  assent  from  certain  groups  of  so-called  Americans.  There 
has  never  been  a  moment  since  or  before  the  second  day  of  April, 
1917,  when  we  were  not  ready  for  peace.  We  are  ready  for  it 
to-day  on  one  condition.  The  war  was  made  in  Germany.  The 
peace  shall  be  made  by  America  and  our  Allies. 

In  other  words,  we  will  have  no  German-made  peace  as  we 
have  had  a  German-manufactured  war.  I  would  bring  it  home 
to  you  if  I  can  that  there  is  danger  lest  certain  groups  of  Amer- 
icans assent  to  the  subtle  and  insidious  and  altogether  menacing 
suggestion  of  those  who  cry  that  the  day  of  peace  has  come,  that 
the  time  for  peace  negotiations  is  at  hand.  One  day  these  peace- 
mongers  call  themselves  the  People's  Peace  Council ;  the  next  day 
they  name  themselves  the  American  Bolsheviki.  On  the  morrow 
they  will  style  themselves  the  Friends  of  American  Democracy. 

But  I  warn  you  that  their  purpose  remains  immutably  the 
same.  They  speak  peace,  but  what  they  are  striving  for  is  a  peace 
that  will  be  not  only  dishonoring  to  America  but  a  peace  that  will 
bring  about  this  tragedy  of  tragedies,  graver  even  than  war, — 
all  that  the  civilized  world  shall  have  invested  in  life  and  sub- 


FIGHTING  THE  DRAGON  379 

stance  to  defend  itself  against  Kaiserism  will  have  been  in  vain. 
In  other  words,  we  will  go  back  to  where  we  left  off  four  years 
ago.    That  is  the  aim  of  the  peace-mongers, — Germany  pardoned  . 
and  free  to  resume  her  assault  upon  the  peace  of  civilization. 

Men  talk  to  us  about  a  restoration  of  the  status  quo  ante.  The 
status  quo  ante,  forsooth !  For  one  thing,  we  can  never  have  the 
status  quo  ante.  We  cannot  repair  Belgium.  We  cannot  restore 
France.  What  millions  of  barbarous  soldiers  have  done,  the 
civilized  forces  of  humanity  cannot  undo.  Some  manner  of  repa- 
ration will  not  bring  about  restoration  in  Belgium,  France,  Serbia, 
Poland,  Palestine  and  Armenia.  The  President  of  the  United 
States,  I  dare  to  say,  will  never  assent  to  a  restoration  of  the  status 
quo  ante,  and  if  the  President  of  the  United  States  should  erringly 
demand  that  we,  the  American  people,  assent  thereto,  he  would 
find  that  the  American  people  were  unready  to  follow  him.  He 
will  never  be  so  untrue  to  himself  and  to  his  record  as  their  leader 
as  to  make  any  such  demand  of  the  American  people. 

I  ask  you  to  consider  what  the  status  quo  ante 
means  or  would  mean.  All  of  Europe  would  again  dwell  under 
the  shadow  of  the  Prussian  menace.  Belgium  would  be  compelled 
to  live  again  with  the  German  gun  pointed  at  her  head.  Serbia 
would  renew  its  existence  within  the  circle  of  Austrian  greed  and 
ambition.  Poland  would  come  under  the  influence  of  thwarted, 
though  not  vanquished,  Germany.  Switzerland,  Holland,  Den- 
mark, Norway  and  Sweden,  alike  intimidated  into  benevolent 
neutrality  touching  Germany,  would  stand  cowed  and  fearful 
before  the  overflowing  power  of  Prussian  rule.  The  reestab- 
lishment  of  the  status  quo  amte  would  mean  that  the  world  would 
say  to  Germany, — although  you  have  committed  the  most  malign 
and  hideous  crimes  in  the  history  of  the  world,  you  are  to  be 
greatly  rewarded.  The  toleration  by  the  non-Teutonic  world  of 
the  status  quo  ante  would  be  equivalent  to  setting  the  seal  of  ap- 
proval on  the  unspeakable  deeds  of  the  government  and  people, 
alike,  which  have  violated  the  peace,  invaded  the  security,  and  be- 
trayed the  decencies  of  life  everywhere. 

What  are  the  terms  offered  to  us  by  the  gentlemen  who  in- 
dulge in  the  practices  of  peace-mongering  ?  Not  very  long  ago, 
one  of  these  asked,  "Can  we  not  have  peace  if  Germany  be  ready 
to  end  her  ruthless  submarine  warfare?"  I  answered, — Yes,  we 
can  have  peace  when  Germany  not  only  ends  her  submarine  war- 
fare but  when  Germany  becomes  unable  to  resume  her  ruthless 
sub-human  warfare  on  land,  on  sea  and  in  the  air. 

Again,  the  peace-mongers  naively  inquire, — Must  we  attain  a 
military  victory  over  Germany  before  there  can  be  peace?  I  do 
not  know  anything  about  the  military.     I  am  the  only  one  of  a 


380   ONE  HUNDRED  PER  CENT  AMERICAN 

hundred  million  Americans  inexpert  in  the  science  of  military 
strategy.  My  acquaintance  with  the  problems  of  armies  is  limited 
to  the  recollection  of  one  single  and  incontrovertible  fact  that  no 
American  army  was  ever  sent  forth  to  do  a  job  that  it  failed  to 
do  exactly  as  it  was  expected  that  it  would  be  done.  When 
these  ask, — "Must  we  achieve  a  military  victory  over  Ger- 
many?"— let  us  answer  by  asking  another  question, — "How  are  we 
going  to  make  things  Teutonically  understandable  unless  we  de- 
feat Germany  in  arms  ?  How  can  we  hope  to  make  anything  Ger- 
manically  intelligible  unless  we  first  administer  a  crushing  blow  to 
German  military  pride?" 

The  men  who  plead  for  the  restoration  of  the  status  quo  ante 
tell  us  not  without  reluctance  that  Germany  of  course  must  not 
gain  anything  by  the  war,  and  they  urge  that  upon  us  as  if  it 
involved  a  fair  and  just  decision  with  respect  to  the  terms  of 
peace.  But  I  believe  that  you  and  I  represent  the  voice  and  con- 
science of  the  American  people  far  better  than  do  the  People's 
Peace  Council  and  the  American  Bolsheviki  and  the  Friends  of 
American  Democracy  in  holding  that  Germany  must  emerge 
from  this  war  not  only  without  having  gained  an  inch  of  territory 
anywhere,  under  any  form,  in  any  guise,  and  by  any  name.  Ger- 
many must  emerge  from  the  war  exactly  as  she  entered  it  save  for 
two  illimitably  important  things, — she  will  have  forfeited  the 
goodwill  and  respect  of  the  entire  world  until  that  day,  if  it  ever 
come,  when  the  German  people  shall  have  returned  to  moral  sanity 
and  by  penitence  in  deed  as  well  as  in  word  have  once  again 
merited  the  respect  of  the  world  which  she  has  wronged.  Ger- 
many is  not  to  emerge  from  this  war  without  change,  for,  when 
the  war  ends,  Germany  must  no  longer  be  free  or  able  to  blight 
the  life  of  nations  with  the  menace  of  militarism  of  which  her 
existence  is  incarnate.  If  Germany  could  emerge  from  the  war 
with  her  military  strength  unbroken,  with  German  autocracy  un- 
shaken and  undethroned,  then  we  will  have  lost  the  war.  We  will 
have  lost  the  war  in  truth  unless  we  can  bring  it  to  pass  and  make 
it  true  of  the  whole  world  that  while  in  the  past  Kaisers  broke 
peace  and  made  war,  the  peoples  after  this  war  shall  have  ended 
will  break  Kaisers  and  make  peace. 

Let  us  earnestly  consider  the  terms  of  peace  that  are  offered. 
Going  back  for  a  moment  to  the  Reichstag  resolutions  of  last  June, 
which  it  would  appear  were  inspired  if  not  written  by  some  Amer- 
ican Bolsheviki,  the  German  government  then  virtually  promised 
that  it  would  demand  no  annexations,  that  it  would  impose  no 
indemnities,  and  that  it  placed  its  faith  in  national  self-determina- 
tion. As  for  no  annexations,  let  us  remember  the  answer  of  von 
Kuhleman  to  the  query,  What  is  to  be  the  fate  of  Belgium?    His 


FIGHTING  THE  DRAGON  381 

answer  was :  The  fate  of  Belgium  must  be  left  in  the  hands  of  our 
future  peace  negotiators. 

Will  you  not  assent  to  my  word,  harsh  and  inexorable  though 
it  seem?  You  and  I  would  have  one  million,  two  million,  three 
million,  if  necessary  five  millions  of  American  boys  go  over  there 
and  there  remain  and  put  back  of  them  half,  yea  if  needs  must  the 
whole  of  the  American  fortune  for  investment  in  the  war,  and  yet 
we  would  that  no  American  boy,  though  every  one  be  precious, 
come  back  to  America  until  the  last  defiling,  damning  Prussian 
foot  be  forever  removed  from  Belgian  territory. 

With  reference  to  Germany's  solemn  promise  of  no  annexa- 
tions, it  should  be  said  that  we  must  be  fair  to  Germany,  and  it 
will  be  admitted  that  it  is  easy  to  be  fair  to  Germany  because  it  is 
almost  impossible  to  be  unfair  to  Germany.  Germany  may  well 
guarantee  no  annexation.  Germany  never  annexes,  Germany 
peacefully  permeates ;  Germany  beneficently  pervades ;  Germany 
in  benedictory  fashion  penetrates;  but  Germany  never  annexes. 
Witness  prostrate  and  dismembered  Russia.  And,  alas,  we  are 
reminded  of  the  word  spoken  last  May  at  a  meeting  in  New  York 
that  if  Russia  desert  the  Allies  and  make  peace  with  Prussia, 
peace  and  liberty  and  democracy  will  for  a  time,  if  not  for  all 
time,  forsake  Russia. 

Once  again  I  venture  to  prophesy, — namely,  that  broken,  dis- 
membered, discrowned  Russia  is  not  the  last  word  of  history. 
The  Russian  democracy  will  have  a  rebirth  and  a  thousand  Prus- 
sians cannot  permanently  overwhelm  and  destroy  Russia.  In  the 
meantime,  what  has  Prussia,  the  friend  of  liberty,  the  saviour  of 
small  nations,  the  abhorrer  of  annexations,  said  to  Russia?  You 
are  an  unwieldy  conglomerate  of  heterogeneous  nationalities.  The 
Ukraine  must  be  separate  and  independent.  Germany's  mighty 
and  irresistible  passion  for  liberty  outside  of  Germany  would  not 
permit  her  to  live  while  the  poor,  bleeding  Ukraine  was  under  the 
heel  of  tyrannical  Russia.  It  insisted  upon  the  freedom  of  Livonia 
and  Esthonia.  It  demanded  the  independence  of  Finland.  It  laid 
down  as  a  condition  that  Lithuania  must  no  longer  be  subject  to  a 
foreign  power.  And  to  prove  the  genuineness  of  her  faith,  Ger- 
many partitioned  Poland  anew,  repeating  the  infamy  of  a  century 
and  a  half  ago,  giving  a  great  slice  of  Poland  to  Austria  on  the  one 
hand,  and  a  lesser  slice  to  unrelated  Ukraine  on  the  other.  Foul- 
est and  most  dastardly  of  all,  in  violation  of  her  guarantee  of  no 
annexations  is  Germany's  threat,  that  shall  never  be  more  than  a 
threat,  to  take  from  Russia  the  sole  remaining  Armenian  province 
to  which  the  Armenian  refugees  have  fled,  the  one  place  where 
Armenians  have  found  shrine  and  shelter  from  the  Mohammedan 
Apaches,  and  to  turn  Armenian  Russia  over  to  the  almost  worthy 


382   ONE  HUNDRED  PER  CENT  AMERICAN 

confederate  of  Germany  and  Austria,  that  assassinocracy  which  is 
known  by  the  name  of  the  Turkish  government. 

Germany  has  added  "No  indemnities."  Germany  does  not 
need  further  indemnities.  She  has  commandeered  the  granaries 
of  the  Ukraine;  she  has  seized  the  inexhaustible  oil-wells  of  the 
Armenian-Russian  Batum  region.  Germany  has  richly  indemni- 
fied herself.  There  was  another  way  of  her  indemnifying  herself, 
— that  is  territorially.  Her  indemnity  has  taken  this  form:  she 
has  broken  Russia. 

And  now  beguiling  voices  will  be  lifted  up,  pleading,  "Let 
us  now  make  peace  with  Germany."  This  is  our  opportunity. 
Germany  will  be  satisfied  to  release  Belgium,  to  free  northern 
France,  even  to  restore  Alsace-Lorraine ;  and  Germany  will  com- 
pensate herself  only  in  the  East. 

The  truth  is  we  rest  under  no  legal  obligation  toward 
Russia;  we  are  bound  by  no  international  bond  to  Rus- 
sia to-day,  technically  speaking.  Officially  and  legally,  we 
are  free  to  enter  into  any  arrangements  we  desire,  without  any 
reference  to  Russia ;  but  still  would  I  warn  you  against  this  un- 
American  and  immoral  urging.  This  war  is  in  some  part  the  pun- 
ishment of  Heaven  upon  a  world,  which  suffered  Prussia  to 
destroy  and  to  dismember  France  in  1871.  We  left  the  crime  of 
1871  unpunished  and  unrighted.  While  we  suffered  that  wrong 
to  go  unrequited,  Prussia  turned  to  Bavaria,  to  Baden,  to  Saxony : 
"Lo  and  behold,  this  is  the  first  of  our  spoils.  If  you  become 
part  of  the  newly  cemented  German  Confederation  and  make  us 
the  master  thereof,  in  forty  years  we  shall  give  you  Belgium." 
Such  was  the  prize  which  the  Prussians  were  suffered  to  hold 
out  to  all  the  German  States. 

We  can  make  peace  with  Germany  if  we  will  and  let  Russia 
surrender  to  Germany  and  thus  become  a  victim  of  Prussian  wile 
and  wrongdoing;  but  if  we  do  our  crime  shall  not  go  un- 
avenged. Desert  Russia, — and  I  am  not  unmindful  of  the  fact 
that  my  people,  my  fellow- Jews,  have  suffered  incalculable  wrong 
at  the  hands  of  the  old  Rusian  government,  but  I  am  not  thinking 
of  what  my  fellow-Jews  have  suffered ;  I  am  thinking  of  world- 
morality, — desert  Russia  now,  and  the  vengeance  of  history  will 
be  meted  out  to  us  for  our  crime.  The  war  of  1914  is  the 
world's  punishment  for  the  unrighted  wrong  of  1871 ;  and  if  we, 
taking  advantage  of  legal  status,  desert  Russia  now,  we  will  in 
time  face  another  more  terrible  war  even  than  this  war.  The 
war  we  can  and  will  win.  Germany  is  defeatable  to-day.  Ger- 
many reinforced  after  ten  or  twenty  years  by  Russia's  millions 
might  prove  undefeatable. 

"No  annexations;  no  indemnities;  national  self-determina- 


FIGHTING  THE  DRAGON  388 

tion."  Thus  spoke  the  German  Reichstag.  What  could  be  more 
amusing  than  "national  self-determination"  as  an  article  of  the 
German  creed?  Do  you  not  know  that  the  war  is  being 
fought  around  that  issue?  In  the  last  analysis,  this  war 
is  being  fought  around  this  one  simple,  unmistakable  issue, — 
namely,  Germany  maintains  that  every  nation  in  the  world  has 
a  right  to  live,  provided  it  can  defend  itself  at  the  point  of  the 
sword ;  America  and  the  Allies  hold  that  every  nation,  small  or 
great,  has  the  right  to  live,  whether  or  not  it  can  safeguard  itself 
by  force  of  arms.  In  other  words  Germany  proclaims  the  right 
of  Might,  and  we  continue  to  rest  our  faith  in  the  might  of  inter- 
national Right. 

One  thing  the  American  Bolsheviki,  the  American  peace- 
mongers,  may  hope  to  do  to  you  and  me.  They  plan  to  lead  us  to 
believe  their  two  equally  false  theses :  first,  that  this  is  "just  a  war, 
just  another  war."  Nothing  could  be  more  false.  This  is  not  a 
war  at  all;  it  is  not  "just  another  war,"  as  if  England  and  Ger- 
many, as  if  America  and  Germany,  had  simply  made  up  their  I 
minds  that  the  time  had  come  for  another  war.  The  truth  is  that 
President  Wilson  did  not  set  out  to  war  with  Germany  until  the 
day  that  he  found  we  were  challenged  not  so  much  to  go  to  war 
as  to  defend  the  elementary  sanctities  of  life.  Far  from  being  a 
war  or  another  war,  it  is  me  war;  it  is  the  war  of  wars;  it  is  the 
war  against  the  war-plotting,  war-making,  war-glorifying  powers 
of  earth.  Not  Jess  false  is  it  to  hint  after  the  fashion  of  the] 
American  IJoTsTievTl^~^this  is  just  a  capitalistic  war;  a  war  be- 
tween the  English  capitalists  and  the  German  capitalists."  About 
the  only  thing  from  this  point  of  view  which  has  not  yet  been 
claimed  is  that  the  Morgan  Company  or  some  other  English  or 
American  banker  moved  the  German  army  and  navy  to  assassi- 
nate Captain  Fryatt  and  Edith  Cavell,  and  to  do  all  those  lovely 
things  which  will  for  centuries  be  associated  with  the  name  of 
Germany. 

This  is  not  a  capitalist  war;  you  and  I — and  they — know 
better  than  that.  The  aim  of  the  peace-mongers,  however,  is  to 
enfeeble  the  will,  to  shake  the  morale,  of  the  American  people. 
They  speak  of  and  demand  a  larger  measure  of  democracy  at 
home.  But  when  these  peace-mongers  have  come  to  me  to  join  in 
their  demand  for  completer  democracy  at  home,  I  turn  to  them 
and  say:  "Gentlemen,  show  us  your  credentials.  You  speak  of 
democracy  at  home,  but  you  are  ready  and  even  eager  to  have  the 
world  come  under  the  domination  of  German  autocracy.  What 
say  you  of  the  Germany  that  invaded  Russia  and  broke  Russia  not 
alone  nor  even  chiefly  to  divide  and  despoil  Russia,  least  of  all  to 
make  peace  in  or  with  Russia,  but  to  teach  the  German  proletar- 


384       ONE  HUNDRED  PER  CENT  AMERICAN 

iat  that  democracy  was  a  failure,  as  tried  in  Russia."  Democracy 
has  not  been  tried  in  Russia.  Anarchy  tempered  by  German-sub- 
sidized autocracy,  has  been  tried  in  Russia.  Democracy  has  not 
been  tried  in  Russia,  and  will  not  be  tried  until  after  the  day  that 
we  dictate  the  terms  of  a  democratic  and  civilized  peace  to  the 
German  government  and  people. 

As  I  close,  I  say  to  you  yet  again :  Beware  of  the  voices 
lifted  up  on  behalf  of  peace-mongering. 

There  can  be  but  one  other  reason  for  peace-mongering  at  this 
time,  the  fact  that  men  not  a  few  in  America  would  have  this  war 
end  in  a  truce.  Such  a  truce  obtained  before  the  war  began. 
Remember  what  that  truce  was  and  what  it  meant.  It  meant  that 
all  Europe,  as  we  know,  was  a  vast  armed  camp.  The  American 
Bolsheviki  are  pleading  for  the  restoration  of  the  status  quo  ante 
for  one  of  two  reasons,  that  militarism  be  magnified  as  never  be- 
fore in  the  history  of  the  world,  or  else  that  such  be  the  military 
burdens  borne  by  the  peoples  as  to  bring  about  almost  immediately 
the  world-wide  social  revolution,  for  which  the  American  Bolshe- 
r         viki  "are  hoping  and  at  which  they  are  aiming. 

There  is  a  great  gulf  fixed  between  the  American  peace- 
mongers  and  those  of  us  who  are  American  peace-lovers. 
The  American  peace-mongers  are  not  Americans.  They  desire 
peace  either  for  Germany's  sake  or  for  war's  sake.  And  we  are 
willing  to  go  on,  to  endure  war  at  any  cost,  at  every  sacrifice  in 
the  world,  not  for  the  sake  of  America  alone,  not  for  the  sake  of 
the  world,  but  for  the  sake  of  peace,  just  and  enduring. 
'Tis  man's  perdition  to  be  safe  when  for  the  truth  he  ought 
to  die.  America  is  willing  to  die,  but  not  to  surrender  to  Prus- 
sianism  and  all  that  Prussianism  means  as  menace  to  the  decencies 
of  peace,  the  sanctities  of  freedom,  the  nobleness  of  American  life. 
We  are  going  on  and  we  are  going  to  win  the  war,  not  with  the 
help  of  that  Prussian  godlet  whom  the  Kaiser  invokes;  we  are 
going  to  win  the  war  with  the  help  of  the  God  of  the  Heavens, 
who  is  just,  whose  prophet  has  declared  to  us  not  "Peace,  peace, 
when  there  is  no  peace,"  but  peace  such  as  "shall  be  the  work  of 
righteousness"  forever. 


THREE:     DR.  ROSALIE  SLAUGHTER  MORTON 

Of  the  American  Woman's  Hospital  Headquarters 

As  I  listened  to  those  speakers,  it  seemed  to  me  when  they 
spoke  of  Russia  and  the  rope  of  sand,  that  perhaps  it  would  be 
more  just  to  speak  of  Russia  and  the  rope  of  pearls;  and  the 
string  which  held  them  together  fitted  them  for  a  princess's  neck 


FIGHTING  THE  DRAGON  385 

and  the  pearls  are  the  tears  which  the  prisoners  in  Siberia  shed. 
Probably  the  releasing  of  the  pearls  will  mean  the  regeneration 
of  Russia,  which  will  mean  for  the  world  something  most  precious. 
In  all  the  misery  they  have  had,  there  has  been  an  unrest,  a  seeth- 
ing, seething  which  has  to  come  to  the  top  at  some  time,  and 
the  reason  they  can't  find  themselves  just  yet  is  because  each 
element  can't  find  out  just  what  it  can  do.  And  when  finally  Rus- 
sia evolves,  it  will  be  through  the  spiritual  support  which  she 
needs  now  more  than  anything  else.  Criticism  is  not  going  to 
help  her.  A  Japanese  army  is  not  going  to  help  anything  like 
faith  in  her  intention  is  going  to  help  her ;  and  I  feel,  from  the 
little  I  know  of  Russia,  that  the  time  will  come  when  she  will 
give  us  something  so  essentially  interesting  and  individual  when 
peace  comes  and  the  people  can  get  back  to  a  normal  idea  of  life 
that  it  may  be  worth  the  agonies  she  is  going  through  now.' 

When  we  speak  of  the  outrages  against  civilization  in  France 
and  Belgium,  I  think  it  is  strange  that  we  should  think  so  little 
of  that  nation  which  barred  the  way  for  over  six  months.  Serbia 
is  something  like  the  boy  who,  when  he  found  the  hole  in  the  dike, 
put  his  arm  through  and  kept  the  country  from  being  over- 
whelmed. If  Austria  could  have  overwhelmed  Serbia,  she  would 
have  had  an  easy  way  to  Bulgaria  and  Turkey.  There  were  no 
English  or  French  troops  there  to  stop  her.  But  that  staunch 
little  nation  stood  there  and  fought  them  off,  and  perhaps,  as 
Rabbi  Wise  has  said,  we  are  paying  the  price  of  our  indifference 
to  the  injuries  to  the  Balkan  nations,  especially  Serbia.  Ten  years 
ago,  Austria  took  Bosnia  and  Herzegovina,  and  all  Europe  was 
quite  complacent;  and  now  that  debt  is  being  paid  by  the  blood 
of  countless  sons  of  the  rest  of  Europe.  When  we  speak  of 
restoration,  I  think  we  must  count  Serbia  in.  Unless  we  do,  there 
is  nothing  to  prevent  the  Austrian  Empire  from  being  a  menace  to 
the  world.  If  she  has  her  way  free  to  the  countries  she  desires, 
she  certainly  won't  care  particularly  about  Alsace  and  Lorraine ; 
and  that  has  seemed  to  me  the  failure  of  every  peace  proposition 
that  has  been  presented.  We  could  not  consider  them ;  they  were 
all  essentially  unjust. 

I  am  not  going  to  tell  you  anything  about  the  Serbian  char- 
acter. I  want  to  say  that  when  I  saw  the  base  hospitals  in  Eng- 
land, and  when  I  saw  in  France  the  field  and  base  hospitals  filled 
with  the  men  of  England  and  of  France,  and  then  went  out  to 
Saloniki  and  saw  the  men  of  Russia  and  the  men  of  Italy  and  of 
England  and  France,  it  seemed  to  me  there  was  very  little  differ- 
ence in  the  men.  All  over  the  world,  they  were  all  doing  their 
job ;  they  were  all  heroic ;  they  were  all  men  who  in  the  hour  of 
trial  measured  up  to  the  highest  stature  of  a  man.     In  times  of 


386   ONE  HUNDRED  PER  CENT  AMERICAN 

peace  we  have  known  each  other  so  little,  in  the  artificial  days  in 
which  we  have  lived  before  the  war  began  we  have  criticized 
superficially;  we  have  had  little  antagonisms  because  everybody 
was  afraid  to  show  himself.  We  thought  the  superficial  to  be 
our  real  selves,  because  we  said  it  was  wearing  our  heart  on  our 
sleeve,  we  felt  it  was  indelicate  to  speak  of  what  we  really  cared 
for  most.  And  that  is  one  of  the  good  things  of  the  war.  It 
has  broken  down  conventional  values.  "Out  there''  nobody  has 
very  long  to  live,  and  there  is  no  time  to  be  idle,  and  when  a 
woman  speaks  she  tells  you  in  the  fewest  words  what  is  necessary 
to  say.  And  when  they  act  they  do  what  is  necessary  to  do. 
There  is  something  in  the  majesty  of  the  souls  of  men  and  women 
when  you  meet  them  on  a  battlefront  that  makes  you  see  what  a 
glorious  thing  it  is  just  to  be  human  beings. 

There  have  been  so  many  women  of  every  nation  who  have 
taken  their  part  gloriously  in  the  war,  who  have  had  the  privilege 
of  serving  their  country  and  doing  their  part,  that  the  American 
women  felt  that  it  was  not  simply  a  duty,  it  is  their  right,  it  is 
just  the  opportunity  for  them  to  do  their  part,  as  the  women  of 
other  nations  have  done  theirs. 

In  the  beginning  of  the  war,  the  women  doctors  of  Eng- 
land organized  the  Scottish  Women's  Hospital,  and  in  ten  days 
they  had  a  unit  in  Belgium.  When  the  Germans  came  they  took 
out  their  patients,  and  by  the  way  they  lost  fewer  from  typhus  and 
typhoid  than  any  other  hospital,  and  they  took  out  their  patients 
and  carried  them  to  safety.  They  even  took  up  the  floors  of 
their  tents  and  carried  out  all  the  things  they  would  have  to  set 
up  for  those  men  who  were  sick.  There  was  no  panic,  no  excite- 
ment. The  bridge  over  which  they  crossed  was  blown  up  by  them 
in  order  that  the  Germans  who  were  pressing  them  hard  should 
not  cross  the  bridge.  You  think  of  women  as  emotional  but  when- 
ever there  is  a  crisis  to  meet  they  meet  it  calmly. 

Then  these  British  women  had  two  units  in  Serbia ;  one  of 
them  was  taken  prisoner.  They  had  one  unit  in  Moscow  to 
take  care  of  refugee  women  and  children.  They  have  one  outside 
of  Paris,  two  in  Saloniki.  They  have  altogether  ten  hospitals, 
staffed  entirely  by  women  since  the  war  began. 

As  soon  as  this  war  started,  the  women  physicians  of  America 
organized  for  war  service.  The  six  thousand  women  physicians 
in  the  United  States,  graduates  of  Johns  Hopkins  and  other 
medical  schools,  and  thoroughly  equipped  for  service,  registered, 
as  I  say,  for  war  service;  and  it  was  found  that  they  registered 
in  greater  numbers  than  the  men  physicians  of  the  country.  I 
feel  that  it  is  right  that  we  should  be  in  Europe,  and  that  our 
hospitals,  to  be  known  as  the  American  Women's  Hospitals,  shall 


FIGHTING  THE  DRAGON  387 

parallel  the  Scottish  Women's  Hospitals,  as  expressing  the  patriot- 
ism of  the  women  of  America.  The  British  public  stood  back  of 
the  Scottish  Women's  Hospitals.  I  expect  the  American  public, 
particularly  the  American  men,  to  stand  back  of  the  American 
Women's  Hospitals.  We  are  going  to  have  a  campaign,  begin- 
ning on  the  26th  of  this  month  and  running  for  six  days,  so  that 
it  will  be  over  before  the  Liberty  Loan  campaign,  and  during 
that  time  we  are  going  to  have  headquarters  at  the  Biltmore  Hotel, 
and  we  want  very  much  to  feel  that  it  is  a  practical  idea,  that  we 
shall  appeal  to  some  of  you  to  be  captains  of  teams,  that  there 
shall  be  many  teams  of  men  of  one  captain  and  four  members, 
who  will  make  it  their  business  during  those  ten  days  to  send  out 
literature  which  will  give  an  idea  of  what  it  is  proposed  to  do  and 
to  help  realize  hospitals  which  shall  be  for  the  care  of  women  and 
children  in  the  devastated  countries  of  France,  Italy  and  Serbia. 

There  are  no  men  doctors  of  military  age  who  have  any  busi- 
ness to  be  doing  civilian  relief  work.  They  are  needed  in  military 
hospitals  and  will  be  increasingly  needed  as  time  goes  on.  It  is  for 
the  women  of  America  to  take  care  of  the  women  and  children  in 
Allied  countries.  Also  we  shall  have  need  as  the  war  goes  on,  of 
hospitals  in  which  the  men  who  have  been  returned  from  the 
military  hospitals  who  are  looked  upon  as  unfit  for  anything  but 
invalidism,  can  recuperate.  They  cannot  go  back  to  their  villages ; 
there  is  no  place  for  them  to  go.  I  have  seen  men  who  are  the  age 
of  my  father  as  I  remember  him  who  felt  there  was  nothing  for 
them  to  do  but  to  commit  suicide ;  there  was  no  future. 

Out  in  Saloniki  there  were  at  least  fifty  hospitals  of  two  thou- 
sand beds  each,  and  there  were  only  six  beds  for  women  and 
children.  It  was  necessary  to  keep  the  army  on  the  front,  and 
naturally  they  had  to  give  place,  and  the  women  gladly  gave 
place  to  the  soldiers;  but  in  the  Greek  Municipal  Hospital  there 
was  a  waiting  list  for  about  six  months.  I  saw  a  woman  there 
who  was  desperately  ill,  and  there  was  no  hope  in  the  hospital  for 
at  least  six  months,  and  I  saw  two  people  in  nearly  every  bed ; 
a  child  with  a  temperature  of  103  in  a  bed  with  another  child  with 
a  temperature  of  105.  We  don't  hear  very  much  of  the  miseries 
of  the  uncomplaining  women  and  children  ;  and  therefore,  it  seems 
as  if  the  men  of  this  country,  taking  such  good  care  of  their  own 
women  and  children,  ought  to  be  willing  to  take  some  thought  of 
the  women  and  children  who  are  so  absolutely  helpless  on  the 
other  side. 

The  war  has  brought  about  a  comradeship  of  women  and  men 
which  is  one  of  the  good  results  of  the  war.  You  can't  compass 
the  war ;  no  amount  of  study ;  no  amount  of  reading  about  the  war 
can  give  you  the  faintest  idea.    You  have  to  go  and  be  a  part  of  it 


388   ONE  HUNDRED  PER  CENT  AMERICAN 

and  it  is  a  great  experience  in  one's  life  to  have  been  a  part  of  it. 

I  came  home  in  a  French  hospital  boat,  and  I  saw  on  that  boat 
men  who  were  going  to  die  in  half  an  hour.  There  were  only 
enough  nurses  for  one  to  take  care  of  about  a  hundred  men ;  the 
nurses  being  assisted  by  men  orderlies  who  took  care  of  the  sol- 
diers, aside  from  giving  them  the  hypodermics  administered  by 
the  nurses  themselves.  The  men's  stomachs  were  in  such  condi- 
tion that  they  could  not  take  medicine  by  any  other  method.  In 
the  hour  that  these  nurses  should  have  lain  down  they  would  go 
back  and  see  the  men  they  knew  would  not  be  there  when  they 
made  their  evening  rounds.  One  of  these  men  was  given  a  pepper- 
mint lozenge.  The  nurse  didn't  dare  say  it  was  candy  because  all 
the  other  men  would  want  it  too.  So  she  said,  "This  is  something 
to  refresh  your  mouth."  He  tasted  it  and  smiled  and  she  asked 
him  how  he  felt.  He  said,  "I  am  much  better."  In  an  hour  he 
was  dead.  He  knew  he  was  dying.  But  a  soldier  never  says  he 
is  suffering;  he  doesn't  say  anything  about  being  afraid  to  die. 
No  man  or  woman  is  afraid  to  die  who  goes  "out  there,"  death 
doesn't  seem  to  be  anything  except  what  you  can  make  of  it,  how 
you  can  use  it,  how  ft  can  serve  your  country. 

And  when  that  man  was  buried — that  man  and  five  other  men 
were  buried  in  the  sea  who  had  died  that  day — I  thought  I  would 
like  to  write  a  note  to  his  family  and  tell  them  how  splendid  had 
been  the  courage  of  the  dying  French  soldier,  and  how  it  had  in- 
spired every  one  else  there.  He  was  from  the  devastated  part  of 
France ;  nobody  knew  anything  about  his  family.  It  occurred  to 
me  that  it  was  rather  a  mercy  that  they  were  all  gone. 

When  the  men  come  back  and  find  that  we  are  taking  care  of 
their  women  and  children  and  that  when  they  are  sick  they  are 
cared  for  by  you  and  by  us,  it  puts  new  heart  in  them.  They  can 
go  out  and  fight,  feeling  there  is  a  comradeship  in  arms  and  in 
the  things  they  care  most  for  in  the  world ;  and  that  is  the  thing  we 
are  counting  on  your  helping  us  to  do. 


FOUR:    BY  PROFESSOR  GEORGE  TRUMBULL  LADD 

Yale  University 

The  theme  which  is  set  for  us  to  speak  to  is  so  sug- 
gestive and  expansive  that  one  can  scarcely  go  amiss  whatever 
one  says  about  it.  The  description  of  the  dragon  that  we  are 
fighting  might  occupy  not  only  many  hours  on  the  talker's  part, 
but  the  whole  of  many  volumes, — indeed,  a  whole  library.  I  pre- 
sume that,  apropos  of  that  title  "The  Dragon,"  you  have  all  heard 


FIGHTING  THE  DRAGON  389 

of,  if  you  have  not  all  seen,  one  of  the  most  caustic  but  true  illus- 
trations in  one  of  the  English  papers.  This  illustration  repre- 
sented his  Satanic  Majesty  as  addressing  the  Kaiser  and  saying 
to  the  Kaiser,  "If  you  don't  stop  calling  me  God,  I  shall  withdraw 
diplomatic  relations."  That,  I  think,  represents  the  nature  of  the 
dragon  very  well. 

But  I  am  going  to  take  my  text  from  something  much  more  im- 
passionate,  as  it  seems,  and  much  less  picturesque,  namely,  a  letter 
which  I  consider  a  very  remarkable  letter,  that  appeared  in  one 
of  the  New  Haven  papers  on  the  morning  of  the  7th  of  August, 
1914.  That,  you  will  please  remember,  was  only  three  days 
after  war  was  declared.  Let  me  read  you  some  extracts  from  that 
paper.  After  remarking  on  the  ignorance  that  prevailed  in  the 
United  States  with  regard  to  the  nature  of  the  German  Empire 
and  its  plans,  this  writer  says: 

"Every  traveler  through  Europe,  and,  in  fact,  all  over  the 
earth,  has  seen  that  the  German  merchant  and  trader  and  drum- 
mer is  on  the  job.  These  German  industries  must  be  kept  going 
at  any  cost  of  money  and  life.  Under  this  imperative  necessity, 
these  German  people  have  produced  a  more  efficient  system  of 
production  than  any  other  in  the  world.  The  leaders  of  the  Ger- 
man people  have  never  deceived  themselves  as  to  the  irrepressible 
conflict  that  such  conditions  must  produce.  They  have,  since 
1871,  prepared  the  people  for  the  coming  fight.  This  fight  is  now 
about  to  be  pulled  off.  Along  with  the  most  efficient  manufactur- 
ing system,  these  same  Germans  have  also  produced  the  most 
efficient  fighting  system,  for  they  know  that  the  highways  and  the 
byways  must  be  cleared  of  rubbish  and  impedimenta,  and  among 
these  impedimenta  the  complacent  and  gouty  British  merchant 
and  degenerate  aristocracy  and  rulers  are  in  the  first  line.  It  is 
writ  large  in  the  soul  of  every  German  that  Briton  must  go." 

Then  the  author  went  on  to  say : 

"The  British  fighting  machine  is  a  negligible  quantity.  Ger- 
many needs  the  stepping-stones  of  Belgium  and  Holland  and 
these  they  are  about  to  take.  It  will  cost  them  a  few  army  corps 
and  also  dreadnaughts,  but  they  are  prepared  to  pay  the  price. 
All  these  paper  agreements  of  neutrality  amount  to  nothing.  Do 
not  be  deceived  by  thinking  that  the  Germans  only  mean  to  march 
through  Belgium.    The  Germans  are  going  to  stay  there." 

And  then  he  goes  on  to  predict  that  "the  Briton  will  be  starved 
out  in  thirty  days,  the  Germans  regarding  the  French  mouthings 
as  a  joke,  and  Russia — she  is  beneath  contempt.    Unquestionably, 


390       ONE  HUNDRED  PER  CENT  AMERICAN 

it  is  decreed  by  the  facts  above  that  the  world  belongs  to  the  effi- 
cient and  the  energetic." 

I  call  that  a  very  remarkable  letter.  Let  me  call  your  atten- 
tion to  these  three  points  : 

That  was  written  only  three  days  after  the  war  began. 

It  was  written  by  a  German.  Who  he  was  we  cannot  find  out. 
There  has  been  some  investigation  lately  even  undertaken  by  the 
Government,  to  determine  whether  this  German  had  any  diplo- 
matic relations,  any  special  means  of  information.  It  does  not 
appear  that  he  had. 

The  third  thing  is  this :  Remember  that  it  was  written  by  a 
German  in  this  country  and  designed,  if  not  in  an  exulting  way, 
at  any  rate  in  an  informing  and  warning  way,  to  tell  the  people 
of  America  what  the  German  plans  were. 

Let  me,  in  my  description  of  the  dragon  that  we  have  got  to 
fight,  take  that  up  point  by  point,  and  see  how  much  of  it  has 
turned  out  to  be  true;  in  fact,  more  largely,  more  terribly  true, 
than  was  implied,  than  was  indicated  by  this  obscure  German. 

It  is  implied  in  the  first  paragraph  that  the  avowed,  active 
principle  controlling  the  German  nation  at  that  time  was  an  un- 
scrupulous and  unlimited  ambition  for  wealth  and  power.  No 
bones  is  made  about  that  statement  in  this  letter.  It  is  frankly 
confessed,  and  it  is  justified  in  the  name  of  the  Divine  powers 
who  are  on  the  side  of  the  efficient  and  energetic.  That  is  our 
"Lord  God"  in  the  German  Kaiser's  phrase,  "who  is  unqualifiedly 
on  our  side." 

Notice,  in  the  next  place,  that  it  belongs  to  the  German  policy 
as  formed  and  avowed,  to  possess  itself  of  what  it  wants,  wealth 
and  power,  dominion  and  lands,  belonging  to  others,  by  force  if 
necessary.  That  is  to  say,  Germany  is  as  a  nation  divinely  ap- 
pointed on  account  of  its  superior  efficiency  and  attainments  hith- 
erto, to  take  what  it  wants  in  the  world  from  anybody  and  to 
take  it  by  force.  That  has,  as  a  matter  of  fact,  been  the 
active  policy,  as  avowed  at  that  time  by  this  obscure  German,  of 
the  whole  German  nation  from  the  beginning  of  the  war  on. 

Now  notice,  in  the  second  place,  that  it  is  implied  in  this 
letter — nay,  it  is  definitely  stated — that  the  leaders  of  the  German 
nation  had  been  educating  the  German  nation  in  that  policy  at 
least  as  far  back  at  1871.  Many  of  you,  I  have  no  doubt,  are 
familiar  with  the  wonderful  book  written  by  Andre  Cheredame 
with  the  title  "Pan-German  Plot  Exposed."  You  remember  that 
Cheredame  spent  twenty-two  years  before  the  war  began,  in  inves- 
tigating the  formation  of  this  pan-German  plot.  In  conducting 
his  investigations,  he  visited  one  hundred  and  seventy-seven  of 


FIGHTING  THE  DRAGON  391 

the  principal  cities  of  Europe  and  America  and  Asia,  and  there  is, 
therefore,  in  that  book  the  whole  thing  exposed  before  the  war 
of  1914  began,  all  planned ;  and  notice  that  it  is  declared  and  truly 
declared  there,  that  the  leaders  of  the  German  nation  had  been 
educating  the  German  people  in  that  idea. 

In  my  judgment — I  speak  of  it  hesitatingly — our  President 
hitherto  has  made  something  of  a  mistake  in  making  any  such 
difference  as  does  not  exist  between  the  guilt  of  the  German  gov- 
ernment and  the  guilt  of  the  German  nation.  And  those  of  us 
who  have  watched  the  thing  have  become  thoroughly  convinced, 
as  I  have  no  doubt  President  Church  has,  of  this  truth,  that  the 
German  nation  through  and  through,  not  their  Kaiser  only,  not 
their  army  and  navy  only,  not  the  Junker  class  and  Hamburg 
merchants  only,  but  the  whole  body  of  the  German  people,  from 
the  children  just  out  of  the  cradle  to  the  Lutheran  and  Catholic 
clergy  and  the  professors  in  the  university  had  become  thoroughly 
impregnated  with  that  idea.  They  were  God's  specially  privileged 
nation ;  they  were  privileged  to  take  what  they  wanted,  and  they 
proposed  to  do  it  wherever  they  came  across  what  they  wanted. 

And  Germany  went  more  gaily  to  that  war,  stepping  with  a 
proud  goose-step  to  that  war,  expecting  in  a  few  weeks  to  be  in 
Paris ;  they  went  more  willingly  to  that  war  at  the  beginning,  than 
we  as  yet  have  entered  willingly  into  the  war;  the  whole  nation, 
including  the  different  classes  of  the  Socialists  which  are  at  the 
present  time  beginning  to  break  away  as  they  have  discovered  how 
vain  their  plans  for  gathering  to  themselves  the  wealth  of  other 
nations  have  turned  out. 

I  might  go  on  from  that  to  endorse  what  has  been  said  so 
eloquently  and  forcibly  here,  that  the  punishment  cannot,  if  it 
falls  where  it  deserves,  fall  only  on  the  army  and  navy  and  the 
Kaiser  and  his  family  and  the  German  Junkers ;  it  must  fall  on  the 
whole  nation  of  Germany. 

Notice,  in  the  third  place,  that  Germany  has  deliberately 
brought  on  the  war.  Or,  to  use  the  expression  of  the  author  of 
that  letter,  "This  fight  is  now  being  pulled  off."  It  had  been 
planned  for  a  whole  generation.  It  is  now  being  "pulled  off." 
Twice  before,  at  least,  the  German  nation  had  thought  the  time 
had  come  to  "pull  off"  the  war  which  they  had  been  planning  for. 
I  was  on  the  10th  of  July,  191 1,  spending  the  evening  in  the 
Authors'  Club  at  Whitehall,  England.  Just  as  I  was  parting  from 
my  friends  and  going  to  my  lodging,  there  came  in  a  stalwart, 
typically  clothed  and  framed  Englishman  of  the  more  noble  and 
manly  sort.  Some  of  the  gentlemen  with  whom  I  was  conversing 
said,  "Smith" — (he  afterward  became  the  authorized  censor  of 
the  press.    He  was  the  press  correspondent  delegated  by  the  Brit- 


892       ONE  HUNDRED  PER  CENT  AMERICAN 

ish  government  to  visit  the  Japanese-Russian  War) — "Smith, 
what  is  the  news  ?"  "The  news,  gentlemen,"  Smith  said,  "is  that 
this  week  Germany  and  England  have  been  nearer  war  than  they 
have  been  for  years  and  years  before."  There  was  an  exclama- 
tion of  surprise  and  astonishment,  so  far  as  Englishmen  ever  ex- 
claim about  anything,  and  there  was  evident  disbelief  in  that  state- 
ment. 

I  kept  my  ears  open  and  had  some  specially  good  means  of 
learning  what  had  taken  place.  You  will  remember  Lloyd 
George's  Guildhouse  address  on  that  occasion,  how  in  very  mild 
terms  he  intimated  that  Great  Britain  had  no  particular  interest  in 
Morocco,  no  special  reason  for  supporting  France  there ;  but  that 
if  it  became  necessary,  the  Government  expected  the  people  of 
England  to  stand  by  it.  That  infuriated  the  German  Government, 
and  they  made  a  formal  demand  upon  the  British  Government  that 
they  should  repudiate  the  statement  of  Lloyd  George.  They  de- 
manded that  of  the  Cabinet.  The  Cabinet  informed  the  German 
Government  through  its  diplomatic  representative  that,  on  the 
contrary,  what  Lloyd  George  had  said  represented  the  opinion  of 
the  Cabinet.  Then  they  actually  had  the  audacity  to  call  on  the 
British  Government  to  discipline,  to  dismiss,  its  Minister !  They 
were  quietly  told  that  it  was  not  the  habit  of  Great  Britain  to  take 
care  of  its  Cabinet  according  to  the  behests  of  any  other  govern- 
ment. That  stopped  the  war  in  191 1.  It  would  have  been  "pulled 
off"  in  191 1  if  they  had  not  been  compelled,  told  that  England 
would  not  suffer  France  to  be  defeated.  They  thought  that  Eng- 
land's hands  were  tied.  They  were  pretty  badly  tied  up;  the 
miners  were  striking;  the  railroad  employees  were  striking; 
windows  were  being  smashed  by  the  women  and  they  were  stick- 
ing their  hairpins  into  the  policemen.  There  was  lots  of  trouble 
in  England;  but  when  the  German  Government  found  that  in 
spite  of  all  that,  England  was  going  to  stand  by  France  if  the  war 
was  "pulled  off"  at  that  time,  they  postponed  it. 

They  thought  the  same  thing  of  England,  as  you  well  know, 
in  19 1 4.  They  thought  that  the  Irish  troubles  had  tied  up  Great 
Britain's  hands  so  that  she  would  let  Belgium  be  traversed  and 
France  be  ruined.  If  they  had  known,  perhaps,  that  England 
would  support  France ;  if  they  had  known  that  it  would  defend 
Belgium  with  anything  like  the  courage  and  tenacity  with  which 
it  has  been  defended,  the  war  might  have  been  postponed  a  little 
longer.  But  that  war  was  sure  to  come.  It  was  planned  for  and 
had  been  planned  for  by  the  whole  German  nation  for  a  whole 
generation  of  time. 

The  next  thing  is  that  Germany  deliberately  brought  on  the 
war  at  that  time.    We  know  that  now.    We  do  not  know  all  the 


FIGHTING  THE  DRAGON  393 

secrets  of  those  twelve  days  that  elapsed  between  the  ultimatum 
to  Serbia  and  the  declaration  of  war;  but  there  have  been  whole 
books  written  about  that,  tracing  every  hour,  and  there  can  be  no 
doubt  that  Germany  deliberately  brought  on  the  war. 

Another  thing  is  that  the  Germans  did  not  expect  to  pay  any 
regard  to  their  treaty.  They  were  not  forced,  as  a  matter  of  life 
and  death,  to  go  through  Belgium.  Their  General  Staff  deemed 
that,  under  the  circumstances,  that  was  the  quickest  way  to  get  at 
France,  to  take  Paris,  then  come  back  and  administer  a  crushing 
blow  at  Russia.  It  was  deliberated  whether  they  should  attack 
France  through  Belgium  or  through  Switzerland. 

They  decided  that  the  easiest  way  was  through  Belgium.  They 
deliberately  broke  that  treaty,  and  they  regard,  as  this  writer  says, 
"They  regard" — that  is  part  of  their  policy — "treaties  as  mere 
scraps  of  paper."  And  if  we  had  now,  as  our  ex-President  Taft  is 
proposing,  a  treaty  made  to  enforce  peace,  leaving  Germany 
undefeated,  unbroken,  unpunished,  they  would  have  as  few 
scruples  in  breaking  that  treaty  when  they  got  ready  as  they  had 
in  breaking  the  treaty  with  Belgium.  It  is  a  matter  of  fixed 
principle  with  Germany  to  pay  no  attention  to  treaty  obligations ; 
for,  such  is  their  theory  of  the  state,  that,  no  matter  what  Ger- 
many does,  if  it  advances  the  interests  of  this  God-chosen  and 
superior  people,  it  is  advanced  in  that  way ;  it  is  forgiven  and  ap- 
proved by  the  powers  on  high,  or,  to  use  the  Kaiser's  terms,  by 
"our  Lord  God,  our  unconditional  ally." 

Notice  now  also  how  the  Germans  have  carried  out  their 
treaties  with  other  nations  in  matters  of  international  agreement. 
They  have  gone  on,  grabbing  whatever  they  could  lay  their  hands 
on,  and  they  are  at  it  now.  No  treaties  that  can  be  made  with 
them,  unless  they  are  punished,  thoroughly  whipped  and  put  out 
of  court,  will  have  any  hold  on  them.  They  are  taking  over  Fin- 
land; they  have  taken  over  a  large  part  of  Russia.  They  have 
prepared  another  way  to  the  British  possessions  in  India  and  to 
the  Far  East;  and  if  they  are  not  stopped  they  will  go  on.  For 
that  reason,  I  am  in  favor  of  the  Japanese  being  used  more  largely 
in  this  war,  and  I  may  say  also  that  I  know  the  Japanese  very 
thoroughly.  I  have  been  to  Japan  three  times.  I  have  somewhat 
more  than  a  mere  speaking  acquaintance  with  some  of  their  best 
statesmen.  I  have  just  as  much  confidence  in  the  diplomatic  policy 
and  in  the  statesmanship  of  the  Japanese  as  I  have  in  any  one  of 
our  allies.  I  have  just  as  much  confidence  as  I  have  in  our  own 
diplomat, — whether  that  is  saying  any  more  than  I  said  a  moment 
ago,  I  don't  know  ! 

Now,  not  to  dwell  on,  but  just  to  enumerate  one  of  the  most 
hurtful  of  the  influences  from  this  quietly  written  letter  by  an 


394   ONE  HUNDRED  PER  CENT  AMERICAN 

unnoticed  German :  The  list  of  atrocities,  in  character,  in  number, 
in  length,  committed  not  simply  here  and  there,  but  committed 
right  along,  day  by  day  and  hour  by  hour,  by  the  German  army, 
and  not  only  by  the  German  army,  but  by  the  Prussian  and  Turk- 
ish armies,  are  something  unparalleled  in  history.  To  tell  them  in 
detail  as  they  are  now  known  would  not  do  before  a  mixed 
audience.  It  would  scarcely  be  considered  decent  before  an  aud- 
ience of  gentlemen.  And  the  accumulation  of  evidence  on  this 
point,  gentlemen,  is  so  complete,  so  manifold,  that  it  will  be  laid 
up  to  the  everlasting  disgrace  of  Germany.  Indeed,  it  is  so  com- 
plete that  it  is  incredible.  Twenty-five  years  from  now,  when 
the  accumulated  evidence  in  all  forms  is  brought  before  the 
future  historians,  brought  before  your  children  for  study  it  may 
be,  they  will  say,  "It  is  too  bad  to  have  been  true.  It  is  incredible 
because  it  is  so  complete."  The  number  of  non-combatants  that 
have  been  murdered !  Have  you  read  a  book  written  by  a  French- 
man, called  "On  the  Road  to  Liege  ?"  He  visited  at  the  risk  of 
his  life  those  little  hamlets  that  lie  in  half-moon  shape  from  the 
south  of  the  forts  of  Liege  around  to  the  eastward.  They  did 
not  take  those  forts  until  some  days  after  they  had  taken  the  city 
of  Liege.  When  the  soldiers  came  back  they  went  to  these  ham- 
lets from  their  defeated  efforts  and  they  murdered  right  and 
left;  they  massacred  in  those  little  hamlets  from  ten  to  fifteen 
thousand;  in  fact,  they  shot  up  one  town  in  Germany  because 
they  thought  they  had  got  over  into  Belgium.  They  didn't  find 
out  their  mistake  until  it  was  pointed  out.  And  in  one  city — I 
have  the  book  in  my  possession,  the  book  that  has  the  names  and 
ages  and  occupations  of  620  persons  varying  from  children  in 
arms  to  old  men  and  women  of  seventy  that  they  massacred  in 
one  of  the  cities  of  Belgium.  And  it  was  not  just  this  soldier  and 
that  soldier;  it  was  the  whole  body  of  them,  egged  on  and  per- 
mitted by  their  officers. 

Another  form  of  treachery  was  the  display  of  white  flags, 
the  shelling  of  thousands  of  old  men  and  old  women,  the  bombard- 
ing of  hospitals — and  they  are  keeping  that  up  now — the  shoot- 
ing of  drowning  men,  the  looting  and  robbery  of  banks  and  pri- 
vate dwellings,  of  chateaux  and  cottages  and  wine  cellars.  (One 
reason  why  Providence  permitted  the  Allies  to  win  the  Battle  of 
the  Marne  was  because  the  Prussians  were  so  drunk.  All  along 
the  roadways  were  strewn  with  thrown  away  bottles  of  cham- 
pagne.) Arson  and  bombarding  of  churches  and  public  buildings, 
systematic  devastation  of  the  country,  the  poisoning  of  the  sources 
of  water  supply,  the  distributing  of  poisonous  germs,  as  anthrax, 
for  the  destruction  of  cattle,  the  deportation  of  whole  populations 
for  work  not  only  in  their  fields  and  mines  but  in  the  trenches, 


FIGHTING  THE  DRAGON  395 

the  murders  and  deportation  of  women  and  girls  for  vile  purposes, 
the  insistent  and  persistent  violation  of  women,  hundreds  and 
thousands  of  them,  violation  of  nuns  in  the  presence  of  their 
priests,  while  the  priests  were  tied  to  their  chairs,  and  all  kinds  of 
horrid  things,  lustful  and  criminal,  of  the  vilest  kind. 

That,  as  I  take  it,  gentlemen,  is  the  kind  of  dragon  that  we 
have  to  meet.  May  I,  in  closing,  tell  you  what  I  think  we  must 
do  in  order  to  meet  that  dragon,  to  fight  that  dragon?  And  it 
comes  down  upon  America  more  and  more  heavily  to  do  this. 

In  my  judgment,  though  I  let  that  go  to  the  last,  we  disgraced 
ourselves  by  not  protesting  against  the  invasion  of  Belgium ;  by 
not  entering  into  the  war  sooner.  We  could  have  shortened  it 
by  two  years.  But  we  must  let  that  pass.  It  belongs  to  the  ir- 
revocable but  not  to  the  remediless  past.  The  thing  for  us  to  do 
now  is  to  be  in  that  war  in  every  way,  and  this  demands — if  I  may 
draw  the  one  demand  out  into  three  parts — these  three  things :  We 
must  require  of  our  President  and  of  our  Government  in  all  de- 
partments and  operations  as  bearing  on  this  war  immediately,  the 
highest  possible  efficiency.  You  know  it  has  been  a  sort  of  slogan 
with  us,  "Leave  it  to  the  President."  Well,  I  am  not  going  to 
object  to  that,  but  I  am  going  to  say  that  it  is  time  for  us  to  sup- 
plement it  with  advice  to  the  President  and  advice  to  the  Gov- 
ernment and  advice  to  Congress.  We  should  say  to  them  all,  to 
the  men  who  are  in  the  places  of  responsibility,  "Do  you,  in  this 
place  of  power  and  responsibility,  leave  it  to  the  men  who  know." 
That  has  not  been  done  up  to  this  present  hour.  I  think  we  are 
doing  a  little  better  in  that  regard ;  but  there  is  not  the  slightest 
doubt  in  my  mind,  and  I  could  give  you  confirming  testimony 
without  reserve,  that  we  might  have  done  a  good  deal  better  than 
we  have  done,  especially  in  respect  to  the  splendid  beginning  of 
an  army  that  we  have  raised,  if  we  had  left  more  to  the  men  that 
know. 

The  truth  is,  and  it  is  not  a  peculiarity  altogether  of  our  gov- 
ernment;— it  was  largely  true  in  France,  perhaps  more  true  in 
France  than  with  us ;  it  was  largely  true  in  England,  and  they  suf- 
fered, until  they  found  it  out,  all  through  the  years  1914  and  191 5, 
that  a  great  many  of  the  men  in  the  government — not  so  true 
with  England,  perhaps,  as  with  us — a  great  many  of  our  govern- 
ment habitually  in  the  civil  and  in  the  military  service,  the  men 
who  represent  us  in  Congress  and  in  all  branches  of  our  service 
are  rather  small  men,  not  very  big  men,  not  very  competent  men. 
There  is  no  country  in  the  world  that  has  such  a  large  proportion 
of  competent  business  men  as  we  have,  and  competent  professional 
men.  They  are  ready  and  have  been  from  the  start  to  do  anything 
that  the  government  might  ask, — I  know  that  to  be  so — ready  to 


396       ONE  HUNDRED  PER  CENT  AMERICAN 

offer  their  services  to  the  government.  The  government  is  just 
about  beginning,  more  freely  than  heretofore,  to  avail  itself  of 
those  men. 

Why  gentlemen,  do  you  know  that  there  were  two  firms  in  the 
city  of  Pittsburgh  that  contracted  with  the  British  Government 
for  93  million  dollars'  worth  of  shells,  and  when  they  made  that 
contract  not  one  of  them,  their  manager  or  principal  men,  had 
ever  seen  a  shell;  and  none  of  their  workmen  knew  anything 
about  making  shells.  They  spent  nine  million  dollars  in  equipment 
before  they  began  to  make  the  shells.  Their  contract  expired  in 
14  months.  Three  days  before  the  end  of  that  14  months,  they 
laid  down  the  last  shell  on  the  dock  in  New  York  to  the  perfect 
satisfaction  of  the  British  Government.  Those  men  could  have 
made  shells  for  us  if  they  had  been  asked ;  they  would  have  been 
glad  to.  But,  more  and  more,  I  say,  in  order  to  kill  this  dragon 
we  have  got  to  insist  that  the  men  who  have  experience,  who  are 
trustworthy,  who  are  sincere  and  patriotic,  patriotic  as  a  certain 
percentage  of  our  former  officialdom  has  not  been,  should  have 
things  under  their  counsel  and  more  largely  committed  to  their 
control.  Let  the  red  tape  be  cut !  Let  partisanship  be  banished ! 
Let  motives  of  personal  and  blood  relationship  be  altogether  sub- 
ordinated, and  so  let  the  boundless  resources  which  certainly  exist 
in  this  country  of  energy  and  wisdom  and  devotion  be  made  al- 
together available.  That  is  the  first  thing,  I  believe,  we  must  do 
to  kill  the  dragon. 

The  next  thing  is  this:  We  must  frown  down  on  and  sup- 
press all  kinds  of  what  is  known  as  profiteering ;  but  we  need  not 
make  mistakes  about  that.  Doing  a  large  business  with  a  good, 
large  profit  is  not  necessarily  profiteering.  It  is  not  our  great 
corporations  alone  that  are  in  danger  of  injuring  us  by  profiteer- 
ing. The  carpenter  who  does  not  do  his  work  in  the  best  way, 
the  riveter  who  would  rather  strike  than  drive  a  proper  number  of 
rivets  in  a  day,  the  miner  who  would  rather  have  three  days'  pay 
suffice  him  for  the  whole  week, — they  are  profiteers  that  we  ought 
to  frown  down  on  and  discourage.  Doubtless,  they  need  rather 
delicate  handling,  but  with  that  handling  should  be  shown  a  cer- 
tain amount  of  purpose.  The  farmers  who  feed  their  wheat 
to  the  hogs,  or  hold  their  wheat  for  extravagant  prices  are  to  be 
frowned  upon  for  their  profiteering. 

There  are  some  kinds  of  manufacture  that  I  can't  quite  under- 
stand. Mrs.  Ladd  is  continually  occupied  with  Red  Cross  work. 
We  have  just  raised  $220,00x1  for  local  money.  The  womer  in 
New  Haven  in  their  Red  Cross  enterprise  are  spending  a  thou- 
sand dollars  a  day  on  all  kinds  of  material.  She  tells  me  that 
gauze  which  cost  1^2  cents  a  yard  now  cost  5  cents ;  that  flannelette 


FIGHTING  THE  DRAGON  397 

and  ordinary  unbleached  cotton  cost  about  three  times  what  it 
used  to,  that  a  hank  of  yarn  that  could  be  got  for  70  cents  now 
costs  $2.50  or  $2.80.  I  don't  know  that  the  cotton  growers  and 
manufacturers  are  profiteering,  but  it  seems  to  me  that  there  is  as 
much  reason  to  inquire  into  them  as  there  is  into  the  iron  and 
copper  manufacturers. 

But,  above  all,  we  must  talk  no  more  about  peace  at  the  present 
time.  We  must  suppress  in  our  own  hearts  and  on  our  own 
tongues  and  do  what  we  can  to  discourage  in  our  pulpits  and 
press  this  untimely  discussion  of  terms  on  which  peace  can  be 
made. 

One  hates  to  say  that  about  this  blessed  word  "peace."  There 
is  no  word — there  was  no  word  formerly, — that  moved  me  more, 
being  of  a  somewhat  turbulent  and  ambitious  temperament,  than 
that  word  "peace,"  and  I  did  think — I  began  my  college  career  in 
the  midst  of  the  Civil  War — so  I  did  hope  I  could  end  it  in  the 
midst  of  peace  and  get  my  own  soul  in  a  condition  of  peace ;  but 
there  is  nothing  now  that  disturbs  me  more  than  to  hear  just  that 
word  "peace." 

There  is  no  possibility  of  any  compromise  between  the 
Entente  Allies  and  Germany  in  the  present  situation,  or  in 
anything  like  the  present  situation !  in  fact,  perhaps  never 
since  the  battle  of  the  Marne  have  things  been  in  a  more  critical 
condition  than  they  are  at  the  present  time.  Never  has  there 
been  less  opportune  talk  about  making  peace  than  at  the  present 
time.  As  you  have  been  told  over  and  over  again — I  need  not 
repeat  it — if  the  war  ends  with  things  in  anything  like  the  present 
condition,  Germany  has  gained  more  with  regard  to  its  future 
domination  of  the  world  than  it  set  out  to  gain.  It  has  gained  in 
a  different  way,  but  gained  more.  Austria, — and  I  do  not  see  any 
reason  for  making  any  great  distinction  between  Austria  and  Ger- 
many— Austria  is  dominated  as  Germany  is  dominated  from  Ber- 
lin ;  Turkey  is  dominated  from  Berlin  ;  Russia  now  more  and  more 
is  being  dominated  from  Berlin.  The  old  path  from  the  Persian 
Gulf  to  Europe,  along  the  line  of  the  half-completed,  more  than 
half-completed,  Bagdad  Railway,  has  been  to  a  certain  extent 
broken  by  the  British  Army ;  but  here  is  this  new  way,  this  easier 
way,  this  equally  available  way,  for  grasping  the  whole  of  the  Far 
East,  open  now  with  regard  to  its  western  end,  quite  fully  open 
by  the  domination  of  Germany. 

We  cannot  stop.  As  I  look  upon  the  matter,  there  is  only  one 
great  question  in  the  world  at  the  present  time.  Everything  else 
is  subordinate  to  that  question :  Which  form  of  the  state,  which 
form  of  civilization,  shall  triumph?  Shall  it  be  the  Teutonic 
form?    Shall  it  be  the  form  which  aims  by  force  to  rule  the  world, 


398       ONE  HUNDRED  PER  CENT  AMERICAN 

irrespective  of  the  wishes  and  rights  of  those  who  are  ruled  ?  Or 
shall  it  be  that  form  which  takes  account  of  the  individual,  of  his 
aspirations,  of  his  soul,  of  his  spirit,  and  tries  to  embody  that  in 
the  government  and  elevate  it  and  raise  it  nearer  and  nearer  to 
the  divine  model  ?  That  is  the  one  great  question,  and,  so  far  as 
I  can  see,  it  rests  with  the  United  States  at  this  present  time  more 
than  with  any  other  nation ;  although  we  expect  France  and  Great 
Britain  to  hold  the  line,  which  they  undoubtedly  will ;  but  with  our 
coming  in  increasingly  more  and  more,  it  is  going  to  bear  down 
heavier  and  heavier  on  our  shoulders,  and  it  will  depend  on  how 
we  do  our  duty  more  largely  than  on  any  other  consideration,  how 
this  world-potent  question  is  answered. 

Which  of  the  two  forms  of  governing  men,  which  of  the  two 
forms  of  civilization,  shall  triumph  in  the  earth,  and  go  on  to  the 
lifting  or  to  the  degrading  of  the  soul  of  man? 


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